Steve Kerr doesn’t mince words discussing Jonathan Kuminga’s future with Warriors

When the Golden State Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler before February’s NBA trade deadline, Jonathan Kuminga was sidelined with an ankle injury. After he recovered, coach Steve Kerr spoke about how playing Kuminga, Butler and Draymond Green together simply wasn’t working. As a result, Kuminga took a backseat until Steph Curry went down with a hamstring injury.

Now, ahead of an offseason where fans and analysts believe Kuminga will be traded, Kerr has spoken about how he’s trying to win, and with Golden State’s current roster, giving Kuminga starting minutes isn’t conducive to success.

Speaking with the Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard, Kerr was quoted as saying:

"It’s a tricky one because Jonathan obviously is gifted and wants to play a bigger role and wants to play more And for me, I’ve been asked to win.

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"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."

Although Jonathan Kuminga had a 30-point performance in Game 3, a 23- point performance in Game 4 and a 26-point performance in Game 5, the fact that he shot just 30.5% from beond the arc this season creates spacing problems in Golden State's high-volume 3-point offense.

Looking at potential landing spots for Jonathan Kuminga if the Golden State Warriors move on from young forward this summer

After Golden State exercised their two-year team option on Jonathan Kuminga for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, the young forward is now set to become a restricted free agent.

Because of that, the market will set the price for Kuminga. If a team is interested in paying him big money and the Warriors aren't interested in matching, he could part ways with them during the free agency period. If not, Golden State is expected to trade him before the start of the season.

The Chicago Bulls are a team that could offer Kuminga a contract so big that Golden State might not want to match. The Bulls have been getting younger over the past 12 months, parting ways with DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine. With Nikola Vucevic in the final year of his contract, the Bulls will have even more available cap space for a potential Jonathan Kuminga contract.

When it comes to teams interested in trading for Kuminga, reporters and fans have thrown out Washington, New Orleans and Brooklyn as potential landing spots, where Kuminga could spread his wings.

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About the author

Evan Bell

Evan Bell is a journalist specializing in the NBA and NHL at Sportskeeda, whose love for the game stems from a childhood spent watching the Chicago Bulls. He has been there through their highs and lows, from the Jordan era to the exciting Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah years.

Evan finds the 82-game season and the intensity of playoff basketball exhilarating, and he also revels in the offseason drama. Phil Jackson stands out as his favorite coach, whom he admires for his composed leadership and success in managing dynamic personalities like Dennis Rodman.

To deliver top-quality content, Evan fact-checks information while diligently keeping up with the action year-round.

When he's not writing, Evan follows tennis and Greek football, and also plays basketball and tennis.

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