Jonathan Kuminga’s offseason standoff with the Warriors ended with a two-year, $46.8MM deal, and he helped Golden State start 4–1 after opening the season as a full-time starter.
But when the team slid to a 2–5 stretch, Steve Kerr removed him from the starting lineup – a move that hit Kuminga hard. As Anthony Slater of ESPN reports, “He feels like the scapegoat again,” according to one team source.
Slater notes that tension from the “contentious” free agency negotiations still lingers, though the Warriors still see Kuminga as important to their ceiling this season, even if the partnership may not last past the February 5 trade deadline.
Several within the team, and people close to Kuminga, believe Jimmy Butler is the person best positioned to help repair the situation.
“I feel like, in this league, he’s one of the people that actually [has] been in my shoes throughout their career,” Kuminga said. “And knows what I’ve been going through.”
Butler has taken on a mentorship role, saying he recognizes a familiar crossroads in Kuminga’s career.
“I think everybody comes to that steppingstone moment … I was at that point [with Chicago],” he said.
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“I realize that he listens to me … But I’m always going to tell him the truth, too. And when JK doing some bulls—, I’m going to tell him we can’t have that, man.”
Kuminga, meanwhile, continues to deal with knee tendinitis and will miss his fifth straight game on Friday, per Slater.
