SAN FRANCISCO – Day 200 of the Jonathan Kuminga Chronicles is upon us, and it likely won’t be much different than the previous 199, except for the expansion of his bank account on Day 92 and the fact that Day 199 dragged him onto the trade market. The polarizing chatter will continue for the Warriors, their fans and anyone following this tediously extended epilogue.
The noise, however, will not have any effect on the Warriors. That’s what they say, emphatically so, and their statements are credible.
“It’s not a distraction at all,” Stephen Curry said Thursday night, after scoring 27 points in a win over the New York Knicks while Kuminga sat idle on the bench for the 13th consecutive game. “It’s a very unique situation, but our job is to just keep playing. Keep winning. It’ll resolve itself one way or the other.”
Curry believes that this will not shake the Warriors because of their history. As the longest-tenured player on the roster, he has seen potential distractions come and fade like waves at the ocean shore.
“(If) you’ve been around for the last three, four years, we’ve done it this whole time,” Curry continued. “We’re sort of very, very well trained in this area to just play basketball.”
Curry’s comments echoed those of coach Steve Kerr, said to be Kuminga’s most fervent antagonist. So much so that some outsiders suspect personal motives.
“There won’t be a distraction,” Kerr said two hours before tipoff against the Knicks. “Jonathan’s a great young guy. His teammates like him. He’s handling himself well. There won’t be a distraction.”
Yet Curry’s words carry more weight. He was a Warrior before Kerr arrived. Curry had early-career obstacles, one being the presence of Monta Ellis and the other being the odd and brief belief among the coaching staff that Acie Law should start at point guard.
Steph has been there, done that, and seen it many times. He is several weeks removed from watching his closest teammate, Draymond Green, walk into the locker room amid a furious quarrel with coach Steve Kerr. There was the up-close deterioration of the relationship between Klay Thompson and the franchise. There were the indefinite absences of Andrew Wiggins, the shock of Draymond punching Jordan Poole during a practice and, oh yes, Kevin Durant’s gloomy final season as a Warrior.
Kuminga is neither Klay nor KD, established All-Stars and essential components in the daily operation of the team.
Kuminga is a young man with a good heart who is making $22.5 million to be a spectator. He is stuck on the Warriors, despite the obvious incompatibility; they drafted him and spent four years resisting thoughts of trading him.
Jimmy Butler III brushed aside any thought that Kuminga’s status – visible but isolated from the games – was a source of turbulence.
“Oh, hell no,” he said Thursday night. “Hell no. That has nothing to do with us. We love JK in this locker room, that’s not going to change. If he happens to not to be here, we still rock with JK. I speak for everybody. I don’t care. I speak for everybody. We love the guy. I wish him the best here. I wish him the best forever. Doesn’t change.
“We don’t listen to the noise. I hope he don’t listen to the noise. He keeps coming in here with a smile, doing what he’s supposed to do, and being the ultimate pro.”
There is enough maturity in this locker room – Curry, Butler, Green and Al Horford – to repel any creeping dissension related to Kuminga’s ongoing disuse. The vets are built to keep the focus on the greater collective goal of lifting the Warriors from mediocrity, which through the first half of the season had a very stubborn grip.
There have been games when it appeared Kuminga could have been helpful on the floor. The last time he was slated to play, Jan. 2 against Oklahoma City, he was a late scratch due to very sudden “back soreness.”
Yet Kuminga, by all accounts, remains popular and has not been a frequent source of irritation – at all. There is a primary reason why Kuminga is not, and will not be, a distraction to the Warriors, according to Green.
“Because he’s not a distraction,” Green said, pointing toward Kuminga’s vacant cubicle. “How he handles it is everything. If he handled it a certain way, it becomes a distraction. But it doesn’t have to be. And the way he’s handled himself, the way he’s dealt with things not going his way, says a lot about his character.
“Everyone around here can confidently say it won’t be a distraction, because he’s not a distraction.”
Green and Butler have done their part to mentor Kuminga on the ways of life in the NBA. Nearly every young player entering the league has “a vet,” someone who assumes a big brotherly role. Kuminga has two.
They both wish Kuminga well, wherever he lands, as does everyone in the locker room. He senses that, which is one more reason, trade “demand” notwithstanding, that he won’t crater this squad.
JK is not built to do that. And, moreover, he hasn’t earned the status.
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