With public comments about Jonathan Kuminga's fit and future, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr have forced the Golden State Warriors into an impossible position. Already challenged to determine how Kuminga figures into the team's broader vision, the front office must now navigate backlash from internal debates turning public.
More importantly, the Warriors may have just lost all of their leverage in potential sign-and-trade negotiations that could revolve around Kuminga in free agency.
Kuminga's pending restricted free agency has become one of the preeminent storylines in NBA circles. An explosive scoring threat at just 22 years of age, he unfortunately fell out of favor with head coach Steve Kerr in regard to the future Hall of Famer's rotation in 2024-25.
According to Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard, Kerr publicly admitted that he doesn't know if he can play the up-and-comer alongside Jimmy Butler, Stephen Curry, and Draymond Green if winning is the top priority.
“It’s a tricky one because Jonathan obviously is gifted and wants to play a bigger role and wants to play more,” Kerr said on my podcast Wednesday. “And for me, I’ve been asked to win. And right now, he’s not a guy who I can say I’m going to play 38 minutes with the roster that we have—Steph and Jimmy and Draymond—and put the puzzle together that way and expect to win."
During a recent episode of The Draymond Green Show, the former Defensive Player of the Year disagreed with Kerr on Kuminga's inability to play big minutes with the Warriors' core players.
"I don’t know that I necessarily agree because you just haven’t seen it. And so I’m not of the mindset that something just doesn’t work that you haven’t had a chance to see much of."
Both sides made points worth considering, but one can't help but feel as though a rival team hypothetically pursuing a sign-and-trade for Kuminga would utilize this discourse to their advantage.
Jonathan Kuminga: A 22-year-old scorer whose coach doesn't see a fit
Kuminga has taken a significant step forward as a scorer over the past two seasons. Between 2023-24 and 2024-25, he averaged 15.8 points in 25.6 minutes per game, which translates to an impressive 22.2 points per 36 minutes. He did so while shooting 49.9 percent from the field.
During that same time, Kuminga averaged 6.7 rebounds, 1.7 offensive boards, 3.1 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.7 blocks, and 1.2 three-point field goals made per 36 minutes.
By the numbers, Kuminga has a case for being one of the most promising young players in the NBA. He's already scoring in excess of 20 points when the minutes are made available to him, and seemingly fills out the box score with well-rounded contributions.
Kuminga has shot just 31.3 percent from beyond the arc over the past two seasons, however, and has now been labeled as a player who can't adequately complement a core that seems to have the high-volume scoring efforts covered.
For Golden State, that offers ample reason to reconsider what was once a simple matter of landing on the right annual salary. For the rest of the Association, however, it projects to be a perfect opportunity to acquire a proven scorer whose upside remains unavoidable.
Kuminga likely strengthened his appeal to rival executives when he averaged 24.3 points during the last four games of the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs.
Green, Kerr's public Kuminga debate destroying Warriors' leverage
Having proven that he can score at a star-caliber level in the postseason, Kuminga's case for being the right fit away from a massive step forward is as difficult as ever to dispute. There are areas in which he'll need to improve, but the same can be said for any player who's 22 years of age.
For the Warriors, depriving him of those opportunities to grow during meaningful games hurt their leverage in free agency—and Kerr's comments may have nearly destroyed it.
Teams that have interest in signing Kuminga despite limited cap space will likely call Golden State to negotiate a sign-and-trade this summer. That inherently gives the Warriors some degree of bargaining power, but teams are now aware of exactly how the residing head coach feels about the player they want.
Under those circumstances, it's hard to imagine a general manager acquiescing to the Warriors' potential desired return when Kuminga's fit in Golden State has been publicly dismissed.
Rival executives can now go into any potential negotiations knowing that Kuminga could be available as soon as the 2026 trade deadline if he's re-signed. They could also operate with more clarity than urgency when submitting offers Golden State may have previously been unwilling to settle for.
It's always nice to have a window into a head coach's thinking, but Kerr and Green's public debate over Kuminga's fit with the starters may have done irreparable damage.