Kuminga Comments on Long Conversation with Steph Curry After Hawks-Warriors

After the Atlanta Hawks routed the Golden State Warriors 126-110 on Saturday, Jonathan Kuminga had a long conversation with Stephen Curry on the court.

During Kuminga's postgame media session, a reporter asked Kuminga about that conversation.

"That's my guy," Kuminga said. "We were just chopping it up. I was just checking in, seeing how he's doing."

Curry missed his 20th straight game on Saturday. He's already been ruled out for Monday's game against Dallas, and he will be re-evaluated again on Wednesday before Golden State takes on Brooklyn.

Kuminga had just two points on 1-of-9 shooting against the Warriors, but that didn't stop the Hawks from winning their 12th game out of 13.

The Curry-Kuminga Relationshp Is a Bit of a Mystery

To be clear, I'm not trying to start a rumor that Curry and Kuminga had a rocky relationship. I've never heard Curry or Kuminga say something bad about the other. But we can at least go over a few things that happened in their tenure together.

Before Game 7 of the 2023 playoff series against the Sacramento Kings, Curry gave a speech asking the team to buy in.

"He implored them to put all of their feelings aside — which sources with knowledge of the locker room felt was messaging directed at Poole, Jonathan Kuminga and other guys who might’ve been unhappy for reasons such as playing time and role — and lock in to the unified mission,"Anthony Slater wrote.

Some have speculated that Steve Kerr wouldn't have benched Kuminga over the years if Curry believed he should be playing more. This has never been close to being confirmed, but it's not an outrageous assumption.

Who knows if there's frustration on Curry's side that Kuminga never embraced the role-player aspects of the game that would have helped the Warriors the most. And who knows if Kuminga feels he wasn't supported enough by Curry.

In any event, they appeared to be happy to see each other on Saturday.

It should also be noted that Curry had this to say after the Kuminga trade.

“JK is going to be a stud for the Hawks. Especially pairing him with Jalen Johnson. That's for sure going to be something to watch these next couple years.”

Kuminga will have a chance to prove Curry right immediately if the Hawks make the playoffs. They are 39-32 and currently hold the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.