After months of waiting, the Golden State Warriors have finally entered the part of the season where they can trade forward Jonathan Kuminga. As of January 15th, Kuminga became trade eligible, giving the Warriors three weeks—until the February 5th NBA trade deadline—to find a new home for the young forward.
The situation has been frustrating for everyone involved: ownership, coaching staff, players, and fans alike. However, former NBA guard and current NBC Sports analyst Austin Rivers recently took his frustrations to a new level on an episode of his podcast, *Off Guard*.
With the Warriors enduring another up-and-down season thus far, Rivers addressed Kuminga’s puzzling lack of playing time despite the team’s clear need for a scorer alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler.
“The Jonathan Kuminga situation is complete bullsh*t,” Rivers explained on his podcast. “The way they have treated Kuminga is something that I haven’t seen in quite a while. All right, this is a 20-point per game caliber player. I know this because he’s done it. When guys were hurt, he literally averaged 20 plus for a month and some change. I’m not making this up, this happened. Last year that he was in and out of the lineup, didn’t even play in the playoffs, then they bring him in one game off the bench, he scores 30. All right? In a playoff game!”
This season, Kuminga has played just 18 games for the Warriors, averaging 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 43.1 percent from the field and 32 percent from three. He started 13 games, including the first 12 matchups after Steve Kerr named him a starter before their third game of the season. However, things quickly deteriorated; Kuminga has not appeared in any game since December 18th against the Phoenix Suns. For nearly that entire stretch, he has been a healthy scratch—practicing with the team but not taking the court.
“Kuminga is a freak talent and athlete!” Rivers continued. “I’m talking about he does things on the court jumping-wise and explosion-wise that people are like, ‘whoa!’ How the hell can this guy not get a minute on a sorry ass Warriors team?! It drives me crazy! I watch the Warriors all the time! I watch more basketball now in my life than I ever have due to my new job at NBC. And I’m watching this piss-poor Warriors team and I’m like, how the hell does this guy not get off the bench?! I’m watching Podziemski, Moody, a bunch of other random ass players, and those guys are good. Moody’s solid, Podziemski’s solid—they got other players I’ve never heard of. Pat Spencer plays before Kuminga! He hasn’t played in 14 games. He’s 6-foot-8 and is a scorer. The Warriors half the time struggle scoring and they have a 20 point per game player who sits at the end of the bench because the coach don’t like him. It’s personal and I know this because I’m close to Kuminga’s camp. I know about things that I can’t say on air.”
One of the main issues, according to the Warriors, has been how to get lineups featuring Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, and Kuminga on the court together, as they are viewed collectively as three non-shooters. Head coach Steve Kerr mentioned last season, after acquiring Butler, that the team had to find a balance to play their young forward alongside their new star.
Rivers addressed this point directly: “Who else are the teams and knockdown shooters like, knockdown other than Steph [Curry]?”
His co-host, Pausha Haghighi, responded, “Moses Moody.”
Rivers countered, “Okay, so then that’s the point. So why is Kuminga the guy everyone’s like, ‘he doesn’t fit. He’s a non-shooter.’ Man, the whole team’s a non-shooter! No one shoots but Steph! No one is a knockdown, knockdown other than Steph. So f**k off with the Kuminga doesn’t fit their playing style. Neither does Jimmy and you all brought him in. It makes zero sense.”
He continued: “Them bringing in Jimmy, who’s a replica of what Kuminga does in some ways, is the biggest contradiction to Kuminga’s whole — Kuminga probably saw that and was like, ‘wait, then why did y’all never play me? Why are y’all bringing him in and never played me?’ He can’t shoot. Draymond [Green] can’t shoot. Gary Payton can’t shoot. All these dudes can’t shoot. But Kuminga can’t play now. People would say, well, ‘Gary Payton knows his role, he knows how to screen in, he’s always moving out the ball, he knows how to play well with Steph.’ Okay, fair. So I’ll give him and Draymond the pass. Draymond’s obviously Draymond Green, so I give those two a pass. Dog, the rest of the roster is still what?”
For what it’s worth, Rivers and the Curry family are close—his sister Callie is married to Golden State Warriors guard Seth Curry, Stephen Curry’s brother.
The Warriors have until February 5th to finalize a trade for Jonathan Kuminga. After years of back-and-forth attempts to get him to adapt to a certain style of play, the organization is now widely expected to part ways with their young forward.
https://clutchpoints.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/warriors-news-austin-rivers-rips-golden-state-for-bullsht-jonathan-kuminga-treatment
