Warriors Forward Not Near Returning from Knee Injury

The Golden State Warriors are struggling. They’ve lost their last three games, and don’t look like they are ready to compete for an NBA championship any time soon. At the very beginning of the season, it looked like everything was clicking in Golden State, but they’ve looked a lot like the flawed team that they’ve been for the last few years.

Jonathan Kuminga has been at the center of much of the chatter around the Warriors. At first, it was praise for looking like he had turned the page to become a meaningful contributor to the team. But then, the team’s play while he was injured brought up more questions about whether the team is better without him. 

Kuminga’s injury, first called knee soreness, wasn’t supposed to keep him out for long. However, recent comments from the Warriors’ coach, Steve Kerr, indicate that Kuminga could be dealing with something worse than many originally thought.

Kerr mentioned he expected Kuminga to scrimmage on Sunday, but Kuminga wasn’t available. He continued, “I don’t know where [he’s at], he’s got to tell you where he is. He didn’t do anything. Training staff, working with them, I have no idea what he’s doing.”

This is not only bad news for the Warriors because it doesn’t seem like Kuminga is expected back any time soon, but also because Kerr doesn’t seem to have had any communication with Kuminga about the injury. 

The Warriors need to figure this situation out for multiple reasons. For one, if they plan to trade Kuminga, he needs to be healthy. Secondly, if Kuminga is going to stay a Warrior (at least for this season), he and Kerr need to learn how to communicate much better.