The way Jonathan Kuminga has been playing, you would never know that his future with the Golden State Warriors was ever in jeopardy. The way Kuminga has been playing, you’d never guess he was a divisive player inside and outside the organization. You’d have no idea that he was benched at the beginning of last year’s postseason, nor that he and the front office were in a monthslong standoff this summer during contract extension negotiations that became unusually public.
Five games into the 2025-26 season, Kuminga has been everything the Warriors wanted him to be. In a 131-118 win against the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, he put up 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting, 10 rebounds, four assists and a block in 32 minutes. In a 98-79 win against the Los Angeles Clippers the next night, he played only 26 minutes and finished with nine points on 4-for-11 shooting, five rebounds and one assist … but look at that one assist!
And look at what he said to The San Francisco Standard’s Tim Kawakami afterward.
“I wouldn’t want to be the problem to mess it up,” Kuminga told me in the locker room after Tuesday’s victory over the Clippers. “I’m growing. I’m in my fifth year now. I know what winning means. And I know what I want to get — winning a championship.
“There is no bad blood or anything like that. I don’t think there was ever bad blood. It’s just all the narrative, all the talking around outside. But we’re good. We’re good.”
This is not the first time that Kuminga has had a strong stretch of games in Golden State. It’s not the first time, either, that he and coach Steve Kerr have appeared to be on the same page. In March 2024, Kuminga was so pleased with how things were going that he said he wanted to be a “Warrior for life.” The difference is that, now, he’s both saying the right things and consistently doing the right things on the court.
Until this season, the argument for sticking with Kuminga — and, for a brief stretch last season, starting him over Draymond Green — was that, while he wasn’t a clean fit, he had too much talent and upside to sit or trade him (and nobody else was putting pressure on the rim or getting to the free throw line). Now, the talent and upside are still obvious, but he’s fitting in just fine. Kerr has grown comfortable starting him next to Green and Jimmy Butler, and Kuminga is helping the team even when he’s not scoring.
“I’m not going out there trying to do much,” Kuminga told the San Francisco Standard. “There is nights where they’re going to want me to do more and do what I can do. But there’s nights like today, just go out there and do what you’ve gotta do, no matter what’s going on, and stay positive and move on.”
This is not to say that Kuminga has made zero mistakes. In the Clippers game, he threw the ball away twice in less than a minute. He’s not taking long 2s, though, and, when he doesn’t have an open shot or a driving lane, he’s moving the ball quickly. Golden State needed him to improve as a decision-maker, and, on the other end, it needed him to pester opposing stars. He has done both of these things, and, in doing so, he has shown that he can be more than just a trade piece.
All Kuminga has to do is keep this up, and it sounds like he’s determined to do that. “I’m not sitting here thinking that I’m going to keep those minutes,” Kuminga told the San Francisco Standard. “I’ve gotta go out there and earn those minutes.” He also said he has told Kerr that, if it’s not his night, he “won’t get mad” and will “do stuff that will help us win.”
It might sound silly to celebrate a player for making simple passes and deferring to future Hall of Famers. In this case, though, that’s the important stuff. The Warriors already knew Kuminga could score 30-plus when given the opportunity. What he needed to prove was that he could score nine points and still have a good game.
