You knew it was just a matter of time before the Golden State Warriors season would start to turn ugly. Now, it appears to have done just that.
According to a report from The Athletic, Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga “has lost faith in Steve Kerr.”
This, according to the report, came to light after Kumminga didn’t play most of the fourth quarter in Thursday’s 130-127 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Kuminga is battling with Andrew Wiggins and Dario Saric for playing time. If he’s unhappy now, what will happen when Draymond Green returns?
Kuminga started Thursday’s and played 19 minutes, went 5-of-7 from the floor and scored 16 points. He had three defensive rebounds and was a plus-6 in his time on the floor.
Wiggins came off the bench and played 27 minutes at forward, was 5-of-10 and had 11 points. Saric came off the bench and played 23 minutes and went 5-of-7 from the field and scored 13 points.
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Why Jonathan Kuminga didn’t return to the Warriors’ lineup
Kerr told reporters after the game that Kuminga would normally have gone back into the game around the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter but that Wiggins was playing well and the Warriors had a big lead, so he didn’t want to disrupt the flow.
- Jonathan Kuminga stats: 33 games, 22.1 minutes, 12.8 points, 4.1 rebounds.
- Andrew Wiggins stats: 30 games, 26.5 minutes, 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds.
Wiggins has struggled for most of this season and was replaced by Kuminga in the starting lineup in December.
Since he went into the starting lineup, Kuminga has been playing a little less than 26 minutes per game. He has averaged 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists. He is shooting right at 57% from the field.