On the Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul podcast, the former pondered a question about Jonathan Kuminga and Steve Kerr that has hung over the Golden State Warriors the past few years. The front office did put an end to the saga at last month's deadline, but they haven't escaped the forward entirely because of how his time ended and how he looks in Atlanta now.
"Kuminga, if he continues to play like this, I think guys like me, who were critical of him in Golden State, have to re-evaluate and say, well, how much of that was Kuminga, and how much of that was Steve Kerr?"
The Warriors selected Kuminga with the No. 7 pick in 2021, a decision led by Joe Lacob and backed by Mike Dunleavy and Bob Myers. Kerr was preoccupied that summer helping Team USA prepare for the Olympics. That isn't to say that he was 100 percent against the pick from the beginning, but clearly, as we have since learned, the coach didn't see the forward as part of the future.
Kellerman asks a question that Warriors fans already know the answer to
Look no further than how Kuminga's time ended in the Bay. He spent over a month from the middle of December to the middle of January, racking up DNPs. It wasn't until the game after Jimmy Butler suffered a torn ACL that he took the court, putting up 20 points in 21 minutes. The game after that, Kuminga went 3-of-3 from the floor in nine minutes before he hurt his knee.
He didn't play for a little over a month again, between his injury, the trade, and the All-Star break. The forward made his Hawks debut on Feb. 24, scoring a season-high 27 points in 24 minutes. In three games (all wins), Kuminga is averaging 22 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game, shooting 66.7% from the field and 57.1% from three.
That's a very small sample size with two games against a bottom-dweller in the East and a play-in team in the West, which is why Kellerman said that if Kuminga continues to play well, he will shift the blame to Kerr.
By no means was it obvious when Kuminga was in Golden State that he was some future star who was being treated unfairly by his head coach, but Kerr was never on the same page with Lacob about Kuminga. He didn't see the vision with the forward as someone the team could confidently give the keys to when Steph Curry retires, and the issue with that is he didn't even really try to see it.
The Warriors wanted Kuminga to be a player he wasn't. He didn't consistently get to show what he was capable of, a chance he now has in Atlanta. So far, the results look good for the Hawks, but of course, it's still early.
With everything that Golden State is dealing with right now, from Curry's injury to Kristaps Porziņġis' absence to worrying the season will end in the play-in, Kuminga's mini-breakout doesn't reflect well on the organization and Kerr.