Fact or Fiction: Jonathan Kuminga is a good basketball player
Each week during the 2025-26 NBA season, we’ll dig deeper into some of the league’s biggest storylines to try to determine whether the trends are based more on fact or fiction.
Last time: Jaylen Brown is the best two-way player in the NBA
Fact or fiction: Jonathan Kuminga is a good basketball player
Jonathan Kuminga hasn’t appeared in a game for the Golden State Warriors since Dec. 18, when he played less than 10 minutes in a loss to the Phoenix Suns. He was not listed on their last injury report. It suffered from some tightness, but your lower back could also tighten if you were stuck on a bench.
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“I wouldn’t have played either,” an anonymous Warrior told The Athletic of a game in early January, when the alleged injury kept Kuminga from participating in a blowout. “It’s clear the coach doesn’t believe in him.”
We didn’t need anyone from Golden State to tell us that. It’s obvious. The Warriors are clinging to a winning record (23-19) and a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament. They’re a good team, but even head coach Steve Kerr recognizes they’re no longer the perennial contenders they once were.
“We are a dynasty in decline,” Kerr said around Christmas. “We know it. Everyone knows it.”
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He later added: “I don’t want anyone to think we’re disillusioned, and we’re thinking, ‘We should be competing for titles year in and year out with San Antonio and Oklahoma City over the next few years.’ It’s not realistic.”
You know what the Warriors could use? An ultra-athletic 6-foot-7, 225-pound lottery pick, 23 years old. They could use Kuminga, who averaged 20.2 points per 36 minutes on 50.2 percent shooting over a five-year career.
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The reasons to play Kuminga are numerous, especially if they wanted to trade Kuminga’s expiring $22.5 million salary, as they have done all season. Why not show off your talent to the whole league?
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Except Golden State doesn’t highlight it. Which begs the question: does he have the talent?
It seems clear that this is the case. We’ve seen Kuminga score as many as 34 points in a game and average close to 20 over long stretches. He has the size, length and athleticism to become a solid defender. Except he can’t score with much consistency and he rarely does the little things necessary to help the Warriors win games, although he’s averaging more rebounds and assists per outing this season than ever.
The Warriors’ two-deadline approach didn’t work as planned. (AP Photo/Kelley L Cox)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
As the Warriors took a 1-0 lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves in a second-round series last season, Golden State superstar Stephen Curry suffered a hamstring strain. Kerr turned to Kuminga, who had rarely played thus far in the playoffs. He answered the call, averaging 24.3 points on 55/39/72 shooting times for the remainder of a best-of-seven set. Unfortunately, the Warriors lost four straight.
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Which raises another question: Is Kuminga a winning basketball player?
We don’t know. With Kuminga in the starting lineup, the Warriors started 4-1, looking very much like the contender who finished last season. Over the next seven games, as they finished 2-5, dropping to .500, Kuminga was -56 and Kerr removed him from the starting lineup. He finished scoreless in a -10 effort off the bench in the ensuing game and was removed from the rotation entirely.
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Golden State is 9.2 points better per 100 meaningful possessions when Kuminga is off the court this season, according to Cleaning the Glass. It was 3.5 points better per 100 possessions last season.
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What is clear: the Warriors no longer believe in Kuminga. They tried to trade him last season, to no avail. They engaged in a prolonged contract negotiation over the summer when they didn’t want to commit a long-term salary to their No. 7 overall pick in 2021. Instead, Kuminga signed a short-term deal, including a $24.3 million team option for next season, that was supposed to make him easier to trade.
And here we are. On Thursday, Kuminga’s new contract became trade eligible, so he simultaneously demanded a trade from the Warriors. This didn’t take Golden State by surprise. That was always the plan.
After watching this theater unfold before them over the past year, the league’s other 29 teams must now decide: If the Warriors don’t want him, then why should we? And that’s a good question to ask.
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After all, which player besides Kevin Durant found great success after leaving the Warriors? Even Durant hasn’t been able to find a similar level of success to what he experienced in Golden State.
It should be easy to thrive in the Warriors system. Curry’s gravitas has allowed countless players to flourish, including Andrew Wiggins, who won a title playing the role Golden State would like Kuminga to fill.
The Warriors ultimately gave up on Wiggins at the end as well, and look how that worked out for him.
Which brings to mind Kelly Oubre Jr. He arrived in Golden State for the 2020-21 season after averaging similar numbers to Kuminga over his first five seasons. The Warriors had high hopes, starting him for most of the year, but they gave up on him after just one season. They were better by 11.7 points per 100 possessions without Oubre in the lineup, so they let him walk at the end of his rookie contract.
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No one was going to trade anything of value for Oubre then, just as no one would be willing to part with anything important to Kuminga. This is not to say that Kuminga and Oubre are not good at basketball.
Upon leaving the Warriors, Oubre signed a two-year, $25 million contract with the Charlotte Hornets, and they failed to make the playoffs in either of those seasons. He has since signed for the exceptional mini-midfielder with the Philadelphia 76ers, for whom he has carved out a role as a small player among the most fringe contenders.
And perhaps this is Kuminga’s destiny. It’s up to him to decide, not us. But …
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Determination: Done. Jonathan Kuminga is a GOOD basketball player, as all NBA replacement players are, and he has value in exactly the right situation. What exactly this situation is is another question.
