The Golden State Warriors have already been through a major relationship fiasco over the last nine months, with the dynamic between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole ultimately leading to the latter’s departure from the franchise last month.
With the Poole era at the Warriors having come to and end, the connection between Green and another young teammate has now come to attention. The conjecture surrounding the veteran forward hasn’t been helped by Green’s controversial comments during a recent episode of the ‘Pat Bev Podcast with Rone’.
The Golden State Warriors must quickly address the relationship (or lack thereof) between Draymond Green and young forward Jonathan Kuminga.
Since that episode was released, Green’s leadership has again come under scrutiny. That was perhaps most defined by NBC Sports’ Monte Poole on 95.7 The Game’s ‘Steiny and Guru’ earlier in the week, with the long-time Warrior reporter describing the lack of relationship between Green and Jonathan Kuminga.
"“It’s a problem and it can only be fixed by Draymond, who has to commit himself to doing that. Honestly, at this point, we’re not sure that he’s ready to do that. They’ve signed him to a new contract, which implies that they believe he can and will”, Poole said."
Golden State simply need to nip this potential issue in the bud before it can extrapolate into something greater next season. This isn’t just a relationship between two teammates, but rather is made greater by their individual dynamics within the team.
Green is the veteran the Warriors have re-committed too, while Kuminga is the Warriors’ brightest young two-way talent who’s poised to break out amid a team who is otherwise focusing on the now. The connection between Golden State’s young players and their aging core has been a constant discussion point for over 12 months, and it remains a fascinating subplot to the team’s chances heading into 2023-24.
That dynamic can be encapsulated by the individual relationship of Green and Kuminga — if those two build a cohesion and chemistry, then that could go along way to the overall cultural feeling around the team.
Making the conversation more intriguing is the fact they play the same position — the Warriors will likely begin the season with Green as their starting power-forward with Kuminga as his backup. With the careers of both players headed in different directions, we may eventually get to a point where they overlap at a crucial juncture.
It may not be next season but at some stage, if the Warriors want Kuminga to be the player they hope, he’ll become a starting calibre player. If/when that occurs, Green appears the natural player to move back into a bench role. How that could play out is all determined by sort of relationship they can foster in the short-term.