Kuminga's Agent Unintentionally Supports Kerr's Kuminga Vision with Warriors

Jonathan Kuminga is signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and on Thursday, his agent explained what went into his thought process to The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski.

Aaron Turner first mentioned that Anthony Edwards recruited him, which would have a big impact for any free agent.

But then he went into other reasons that sound like he was quoting Steve Kerr.

The Golden State Warriors head coach wanted Kuminga to be a star role player who focused on moving the ball quickly on offense and making all the hustle plays on defense.

Kuminga spent 4.5 years under Kerr struggling to meet that standard.

Kuminga's Focus Is on Defense

Turner said part of Edwards' pitch was focusing on defense, which Kuminga loved.

“Ant was super active in the recruitment of him,” Turner told Krawczynski. “One thing he did was focus his message on, we’re gonna really guard here. Everybody looked at the offensive end. JK and I looked more at the defensive end.”

Kerr has said that Kuminga should focus on playing like Shawn Marion, who was a great two-way player but wasn't known for one-on-one scoring and offensive explosions.

Kuminga never embraced a Marion-like role that would have emphasized defense. To be clear, Kuminga didn't completely tune out on defense, but he was never consistently locked in on that end like Marion was.

Kuminga Wants an Unselfish Offense

Krawczynski wrote about what kind of offense Kuminga wanted:

"And after so much concentration on Kuminga’s spot in the offensive pecking order in Golden State, Turner said Kuminga just wants to be a part of an unselfish offense that moves the ball and gets everyone involved."

The Warriors are often considered the league's most unselfish offense, and one stat that supports that is assist percentage.

The Warriors' ranks in that stat since Kuminga's first season are as follows:

- 2021-22: 1st
- 2022-23: 1st
- 2023-24: Tied for 3rd
- 2024-25: 1st
- 2025-26: 1st

What makes the Warriors different than most offenses is they will ask their forwards to set off-the-ball screens for Stephen Curry (and Klay Thompson when he was there) to get them open looks from three.

Kuminga wasn't the first—and won't be the last—player who sometimes was late to recognizing that Curry was trying to relocate for three.

It's possible Kuminga didn't appreciate being used as a screener as often as he was.

But on its face, it's funny that Kuminga wanted "an unselfish offense" after being part of a Kerr offense based on ball movement and quick decisions.

Kuminga Wants a Team That Doesn't Care About Stats

It's no secret that Kuminga wanted a bigger offensive role, which some would say is synonymous with putting up more stats.

"It’s been an interesting fit," Kerr told Andscape's Marc J. Spears in October 2025 about Kuminga's role. "He’s made it pretty clear that he wants the ball and an opportunity that a lot of his cohorts get and people that were drafted near him. And we weren’t able to offer that. We were a championship team. We won the title his rookie year [2021-22) and have been in the mix the last few years. So, it’s been tough."

Now, Turner says Kuminga doesn't care about stats and believes the Timberwolves will embrace that mentality.

“Offense is secondary to what he’s thinking about," Turner said. "It’s going to be whatever we gotta do to win that night. Nobody is going to care about stats or shots.”

“The best thing he can do for himself is focus on the moment,” Turner added. “If everybody guards and nobody cares about stats and it’s all about the team and winning, it’s going to be good.”

Kuminga had notable complaints about Kerr in April 2023, January 2024 and November 2025. Each of those complaints were preceded by a playing-time decrease.

Kuminga was likely more upset about his inconsistent playing time than the effect that it had on his stats.

But if he really bought into this very mature approach Turner is talking about, he wouldn't have aired out his concerns to the public. And ironically, Kerr likely would have played him more, as Kerr wanted Kuminga to care less about his offensive role and more about impacting winning.

Turner is saying all the things Kerr wished Kuminga embraced with the Warriors. We'll see if Kuminga actually embraces this mentality with the Wolves and what that does for his career.

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