Steve Kerr Criticized by Anonymous Player for Handling of Kuminga Situation

Some voters in The Athletic's anonymous player poll don't think highly of Kerr

Jonathan Kuminga | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Steve Kerr has been one of the most respected head coaches in the NBA for years, but based on an anonymous player poll published Wednesday, some are lower on him than previously thought.

Josh Robbins, Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic surveyed 161 players on a number of questions, including which coach does the player being asked find the last impressive.

Of the 100 responses, six voted for Kerr. That was the fourth-highest number, trailing only the totals of Brian Keefe, Doc Rivers and Doug Christie.

One player gave his reasoning for voting for Kerr.

"I think he's a great coach. I just thought the way he handled the Kuminga situation wasn't very smart."

Overview of the History Between Kerr and Kuminga

The Warriors selected Kuminga with the seventh overall pick in the 2021 draft. During his rookie season, the Warriors won the championship. Kuminga averaged 9.3 points per game in 16.9 minutes per game.

For his second year, Kuminga's minutes per game rose to 20.8, and his points per game rose to 9.9. The Warriors spent the first half of the season priortizing James Wiseman's development over Kuminga's, and when that became a lost cause, they traded Wiseman and gave Kuminga more opportunity over the last three months.

Kuminga broke out in his third season, averaging 16.1 points in 26.3 minutes per game. Despite that, it wasn't a smooth ride. In January of that season, it was reported that Kuminga had lost faith in Kerr.

In his fourth season, Kuminga was putting similar numbers to his breakout third season before he got hurt in January. By the time he returned to the court, the Warriors had traded for Jimmy Butler. Kerr said that Kuminga does not fit well with Butler and Draymond Green. In the first round of the playoffs, Kerr rarely went to Kuminga, which was probably the last straw for this relationship. But then after Stephen Curry got hurt in Round 2, Kerr played Kuminga a lot, and Kuminga responded with the best four-game stretch of his career.

That led drawn-out free-agent negotiations. Kuminga was a restricted free agent, so the Warriors could match any contract he signed with another team, which limited his market. Kuminga pretty clearly wanted to be free of the Warriors, but he eventually settled for a two-year, $48 million contract with a team option for the second year.

Kuminga then started for the first 12 games of the season before being demoted due to injury and ineffectiveness. He eventually demanded a trade, and the Warriors ended the saga by dealing him and Buddy Hield to the Hawks for Kristaps Porzingis.

Kerr Deserves Some Blame for Kuminga Handling

Kerr is very forthright with the media, and it was clear that some of what he said bothered Kuminga. For example, even though it was obvious, admitting that Kuminga didn't fit with Butler and Green was not something any player would want to hear.

However, there is a narrative that Kuminga never got a fair chance from Kerr, and that seems harsh to me. In his third season, Kuminga started 46 games and finished fourth on the team in total minutes.

But the Warriors were drowning in Kuminga's fourth season, and though the Butler trade saved them, it led to an awkward fit.

Should Kerr have given Kuminga consistent minutes in that first-round series against the Rockets? Perhaps, but the Warriors lost the Kuminga minutes in all three games he played, and there's an argument that playing him any more could have resulted in losing the series.

Some Warriors fans and media believe Kuminga's potential was worth him being catered to in every way possible. I don't share their belief in his potential.

So even though I acknowledge Kerr could made some mistakes, I don't see this as such a big coaching disaster that Kerr deserves to be seen as one of the worst coaches in the leageu.