The Warriors got off to a hot start in kicking off the 2025-26 NBA season, winning four of their first five games. Then they reversed course and lost five of their next seven to effectively wipe away all the progress made to start the year. As the season approaches the one month mark things have somewhat stabilized. Golden State is 9-8 and keeping above water despite a particularly punishing schedule that coach Steve Kerr called the hardest he’d ever seen in his decades of NBA life.
All the while the Jonathan Kuminga situation looms as a turning point for this year’s Warriors team. Kuminga engaged in an extended and contentious contract negotiation with Golden State over the summer that ended in an agreement on a two-year deal that will likely result in Kuminga entering unrestricted free agency next offseason. Which makes this season a bit of a weird spot for the springy forward. He’s clearly aiming to leave the Warriors as soon as he’s able to, reportedly in order to land on a team where he will have a larger role. But in the meantime Golden State will rely on him as a fairly important rotation player in a season with championship expectations—while keeping an eye on the trade market in case an enticing offer for Kuminga comes along once he’s trade-eligible in January.
Kuminga got off to a solid start and played a big role in the team’s early success. Then his knee started acting up and his play suffered as a result before he was sidelined. Kuminga was held out of the last three Warriors games with “bilateral patellar tendonitis.” Before he hit the injury report, though, Kuminga was reverted to his old bench role by Kerr despite the success he saw in the starting unit to begin the year. This decision, according to a new ESPN report, has Kuminga feeling like a scapegoat.
Writing on the Kuminga situation, Warriors reporter Anthony Slater said old wounds were being reopened by the team’s struggles.
“The Warriors lost five of their next seven,” Slater wrote. “Kuminga's turnovers spiked and performance dipped. Searching for rotation answers, Kerr demoted Kuminga back to a bench role, reopening old wounds. ‘He feels like the scapegoat again,’ one team source said.”
Furthermore, Slater reported there’s a belief within the Golden State buildings that Kuminga has to get over his “resentment” in order to succeed.
“For the Warriors to reach their ceiling this season, there's an internal belief that Kuminga, even in a condensed role, must shake off some of his built-up resentment and get back to the impact wing from the first couple of weeks, even if the long-term benefit for both sides is more about a bump in trade value than a partnership,” Slater said.
None of the above information is particularly surprising if you’ve been paying attention to Kuminga’s career in Golden State. There has been regular friction between the former lottery pick and the coaching staff because what Kuminga wants to do (and feels he is best at) does not mesh in any way with the Warriors’ vision of how an offense operates around Steph Curry. That difference in opinion combined with the championship expectations Golden State has carried since Kuminga started his career means the forward has always experienced a short leash from Kerr, which has led to discontent.
Now history is repeating itself. Whatever hope the Warriors might’ve held about a quiet year on the Kuminga front is already dashed. How his situation impacts the team will be something to monitor going forward.