The Golden State Warriors finally ended the Jonathan Kuminga saga by trading him to the Hawks alongside Buddy Hield in a deal for Kristaps Porziņġis. Fans no longer have to watch (and deal with the drama) of Kuminga being in and out of the rotation. Tim Bontemps of ESPN recently spoke about the forward's time in the Bay, saying he was "never good enough" to earn Steve Kerr's trust.
Bontemps compared Kuminga to Jimmy Butler's situation when the Bulls drafted him in 2011. He said Butler had to accept being a role player so that he could earn a spot in Tom Thibodeau's rotation. The now 36-year-old forward did so and earned Thibodeau's trust in the process.
Anthony Slater, who covers the Warriors for ESPN, cut in to say that Golden State wanted Kuminga "to be a play finisher and energy guy, and not a play starter and advantage creator." Bontemps said it's not up to the player to "demand" that role, and that if he had "done the first role, he might have earned the second role." He said that's why he brought up the Butler comparison.
Slater pointed out that Kuminga was willing to be that player at "various times," like in the 2023-24 season when he averaged a career-high 16.1 points in 26.3 minutes per game.
Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga were at odds from the beginning
Earlier this week, Slater published a piece for ESPN that gave fans an inside look at Kuminga's time with the Warriors, and how (and where) things went wrong. He discussed how Joe Lacob became a big fan of Kuminga after a pre-draft dinner and pushed for the team to draft the forward. Lacob got Mike Dunleavy and Bob Myers on board; however, Steve Kerr was busy that summer preparing Team USA for the Olympics. He wasn't as involved as he would've been otherwise.
Kerr and Kuminga never really saw eye to eye, and, as Slater detailed, the forward felt like the Warriors were trying to define what kind of player he was and wasn't. After dealing with it for several years, the forward was more than ready to get out.
The 23-year-old will get to start proving that he can be the kind of player that he believes he can be after the All-Star break, when the Hawks expect him to return from the knee injury he suffered at the end of January. Between how long the saga went on with the Warriors and how things ended (like the whole bizarre 'taking too much food from the family room' thing), Kuminga has even more motivation to go out there and try to reach the All-Star level he believes he can.
As Slater mentioned, we saw flashes of that player while he was in Golden State. Can he be that guy consistently in the last couple of months of the season in Atlanta? Stay tuned.