Steve Kerr Drops Hint on When Kuminga's Benching Will End

After Wednesday's practice, Steve Kerr commented on when Jonathan Kuminga will be back in the rotation.

"I can tell you JK has been great this last week as he's been out of the rotation,"
Kerr told reporters. "He's been working really hard and I'm going to reward that. He needs to be back out there."

Kuminga has been given the "did not play, coach's decision" label the last three games.

Kuminga's Reaction to the Benching

After Kuminga was benched against the Bulls on Dec. 7, he was asked about the benching.

"We just switched certain things. That's all," Kuminga said, per Anthony Slater of ESPN. "I'm not really sure (how long it lasts), but as long as things are working out there and we winning, I don't see the point of switching anything."

The Warriors had just come off winning two straight games without Stephen Curry or Draymond Green healthy. The vibes were as high as they had been all season.

Two games later, the vibes are totally gone.

The Warriors had a three-point lead with under two minutes to go against the Timberwolves on Friday, but they couldn't hold on.

Then on Sunday, the Warriors had a five-point lead with 2:30 to go against the Trail Blazers, but they once again couldn't hold on. This loss was particularly frustrating because Curry had 48 points and 12 threes, but it wasn't enough.

Aside from the shift in vibes, not much has changed since Kuminga's benching. Pat Spencer will not play on Thursday against the Suns due to personal reasons, so maybe Kerr sees an opportunity to play Kuminga with a rotation player not playing. Or maybe he feels an obligation to play Kuminga to potentially help his trade value.

Whatever the reason, it sounds like he'll play against the Suns.

Kuminga's Trade Value

Kuminga can't be traded until Jan. 15 (to find out why, check out this article I wrote), and it's become increasingly clear that he will be dealt before the Feb. 5 trade deadline.

There are plenty of differing opinions on Kuminga's trade value, but the most common once is that he's not worth as much as you might think even after his explosive offensive display in last season's playoffs against the TImberwolves.

The San Francisco Standard's Tim Kawakami weighed in on Kuminga's trade value on Tuesday.

"My other guess: Kuminga’s trade value isn’t high enough to land a more suitable player in return, so the Warriors will probably have to add at least one unprotected future draft pick."

The Warriors have 14 games until Jan. 15, and it's not clear how much his trade value can change in that time.

It doesn't seem like it could get much worse unless he suffers an injury.

In his last eight games, Kuminga is averaging 6.9 points on 31.9 percent shooting and 19.0 percent from three.

In the 10 games prior to that slump, he was averaging 16.1 points on 49.6 percent shooting and 38.7 percent from three.

It goes without saying that the Warriors could use the early-season version of Kuminga to get out of this two-game losing streak and string together some wins.