'Scapegoat' Report Shows Kuminga, Warriors Have Unhealthy Friction

Jonathan Kuminga drama is once again at center stage.

ESPN's Anthony Slater published an article Thursday that was almost entirely positive regarding Kuminga's role and future.

Jimmy Butler said he loves him and thinks he has the potential to be a star. It was revealed that Draymond Green asked Steve Kerr to keep Kuminga in the starting lineup early in the season because Green felt Kuminga had earned it. Kerr said he is now convinced that Kuminga can play in lineups with Butler and Green after being skepitcal of it last year.

That makes it sound like all is well with Kuminga and the Warriors, but one juicy anonymous quote suggests otherwise.

"He feels like the scapegoat again," a team source told Slater.

Why Kuminga Might Feel That Way

Three things happened in a matter of a few days that could explain why Kuminga would feel like a scapegoat.

First was Green's agendas quote after the blowout loss to the Thunder.

"I think everyone has a personal agenda in this league. But you have to make the personal agenda work in the team confines. If it doesn't work, you kinda got to get rid of your agenda. Or, eventually the agenda is the cause of someone getting rid of you."

Green has since called out the media for assuming this quote was about Kuminga, but even if it wasn't, most people thought it was, which could have frustrated Kuminga.

Second was Kerr's decision to demote Kuminga from the starting lineup a day after the Thunder game.

The Warriors had lost five of seven, and many players were struggling, including Green and Stephen Curry. But one could surmise that the demotion was Kerr's way of blaming Kuminga for the losing.

Lastly, Curry had two virtuoso performances while starting without and mostly playing without Kuminga for the first time this season. That led some to question whether Kuminga was holding Curry back.

It's true that Curry gets more scoring opportunities when he's not playing with Kuminga, but since the beginning of Kuminga's sophomore season, the team's offense has actually had about the same efficiency in Curry-without-Kuminga lineups and Curry-with-Kuminga lineups.

Most fans don't know that, though. They saw those Spurs games and formed their own conclusions.

Hard to Know Why This Quote Got Out There

I'm not speculating about who said this or why, but usually when someone anonymously tells a journalist something, they have an agenda.

I don't know what this team source's agenda is, but I'm guessing they knew it would create a stir.

Friction That Never Goes Away

There's healthy friction and there's unhealthy friction.

Healthy friction is a player telling the coach he's disappointed in his role but not letting that affect his play.

Unhealthy friction is after a player comes off the bench for one game out of 13, there are anonymous quotes about him feeling like a scapegoat again.

Put another way, you didn't see quotes about Bennedict Mathurin feeling like he was the scapegoat after the Pacers' NBA Finals loss to the Thunder. You didn't see quotes about Peyton Watson feeling like he was the scapegoat when the Nuggets lost in the playoffs.

But you are seeing it with Kuminga and the Warriors 17 games into the season.

Combined with Kuminga reportedly griping about his role in the middle of the 2023 playoffs (leading to Curry having to make a speech about committing to the team before a Game 7); the Kuminga losing faith in Kerr report from January 2024; Kuminga being out of the rotation for the 2025 playoff series against Houston; and Kuminga's drawn-out contract negotiations with reports of him not feeling valued, it's clear that there's too much baggage for this friction to ever go away.

If this friction affects the team's performance, the Warriors will have no one to blame but themselves. They could have traded Kuminga several times, but they've decided he's worth it.

If he has a star turn in the coming weeks, they'll look like geniuses. But what feels more likely is this ends in a trade so the Warriors get a player who fits better with Butler and Green and Kuminga gets a fresh start.