The Jonathan Kuminga-Warriors Drama Continues Despite Trade

The Golden State Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga are hoping their deadline trade can end the conversations about their tumultuous relationship. Kuminga is where he wants to be (somewhere that’s not Golden State), and the Warriors have rid themselves of someone they didn’t believe could help their team win now or in the future. 

The breakup could have been cleaner. Both sides have been building animosity towards each other for years, and some of the behind-the-scenes issues have now been revealed. 

Anthony Slater of ESPN wrote about just how bad and weird the relationship between Kuminga and the Warriors got. 

“Kuminga was prepared for the conversation. He knew management wanted to ding him for missing a team-requested event and alert him that someone around him was taking too much food from the family room. The gripes between player and organization, as multiple sources said, had become "petty" in the fifth year of a relationship many believed should've ended years before.

Kerr never had much success reaching Kuminga on a deeper level, typically one of his coaching superpowers. He'd given him handwritten notes, sent long text messages, and tried to connect. But Kuminga rarely reciprocated. Kuminga normally responded dispassionately and sporadically.”

Obviously, a lot of the negative press towards Kuminga coming from this ESPN article is being fed to Slater from inside the Warriors’ organization. It’s not a great look to kick someone while they’re already on their way out the door, but some inside the Warriors organization have been building frustration with Kuminga and his team for years. 

So, while everyone thought the drama between Kuminga and the Warriors was finally done, this ESPN article has reawakened the conversation.