{"id":531841,"date":"2026-01-12T14:50:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T14:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531841\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T14:50:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T14:50:38","slug":"we-found-the-fans-who-still-wear-jonathan-kuminga-jerseys-at-chase-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531841\/","title":{"rendered":"We found the fans who still wear Jonathan Kuminga jerseys at Chase Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Kuminga hasn\u2019t played a minute in the Warriors\u2019 last 12 games. He becomes trade-eligible in the middle of an eight-game home stretch on January 15. His name is powering the NBA trade rumor mill, his role has vanished, and the Warriors are quietly preparing for life without him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And yet, scattered among the 18,000 fans filing into Chase Center on Wednesday night, a few fans still proudly donned the talented 23-year-old\u2019s jersey. <\/p>\n

These are the Kuminga Truthers, and they aren\u2019t budging in their devotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always hoping that he\u2019s going to be playing,\u201d said Loren Harris, a Warriors fan since the \u201880s, who wore a recently purchased white Kuminga No. 1 jersey to the game against the Milwaukee Bucks this week. \u201cI thought this would be his breakout year, and unfortunately, we haven\u2019t seen it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris pointed to Kuminga\u2019s development over the past few seasons \u2014 the flashes of growth, the athletic upside that felt undeniable. That belief hasn\u2019t fully evaporated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have hope. I believe there\u2019s always a chance. I would like to think of it more positively,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s a surprise weapon that we\u2019re going to bring out in the playoffs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Loren Harris was convinced this season would be Kuminga\u2019s breakout year.\u200b<\/p>\n

The wing was once viewed as the bridge between the Steph Curry era and whatever unthinkable era comes next for the Warriors. The 2021 seventh overall pick was drafted as a long-term bet: his elite athleticism, defensive versatility, and two-way value could eventually help carry the franchise forward once Golden State\u2019s core dynasty players aged out.<\/p>\n

Instead, his fifth season has become a disappointing holding pattern, and the Golden State Shops around Chase Center offer a quiet confirmation.<\/p>\n

After a summer of dramatic and stalled contract negotiations<\/a>, Kuminga changed his jersey number from 00 to 1 for a \u201cnew start.\u201d Not long after, his jersey disappeared from store displays. A store employee said the deliberate filing away of Kuminga\u2019s jersey took place during the offseason, just as uncertainty about his future in Golden State became harder to ignore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

2 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

5 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Since the start of the season in October, only five custom Kuminga jerseys have been made, according to a store employee, who declined to provide a name because they weren\u2019t authorized to speak publicly. \u201cI don\u2019t like selling someone a jersey that they aren\u2019t going to be playing or be here,\u201d said the employee.<\/p>\n

Every other Warriors player\u2019s jersey hangs in the store. Kuminga\u2019s does not.<\/p>\n

Which makes the couple that do appear in the crowd stand out even more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BlueA jersey for Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga cannot be found at stores around Chase Center. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he first came in, we were really excited,\u201d said Cheri Fairbrother, a Warriors fan since 1995, rocking a vintage Kuminga 00 jersey, paired with matching Kuminga socks. \u201cUp until these last couple months, he\u2019s been an integral part of the team. I will still wear his jersey.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She described a player she still believes fits the Warriors\u2019 plans. \u201cHe has a good basketball acumen. He gets where he needs to be on the court, his defense is good, his shooting \u2014 when it\u2019s on, it\u2019s really on. And he meshed well with the team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fairbother said she trusts the organization\u2019s decision-making and avoids second-guessing the Warriors front office. Still, the possibility of seeing Kuminga traded as soon as this week is difficult to accept.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts me, I\u2019d like him to stay,\u201d she said. \u201cThe relationship that he\u2019s built with Jimmy Butler has been fabulous to watch, and I\u2019d like to see that continue to grow. If he was playing, I think we\u2019d still be doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo keep him would be my best case,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

That sentiment isn\u2019t easy to find inside Chase Center, but online, Kuminga\u2019s most vocal supporters are far more visible \u2014 and far less forgiving.<\/p>\n

\"ACheri Fairbrother wears her Kuminga jersey and socks during a game at Chase Center on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel awful. [Steve Kerr] never even tried to play Kuminga alongside three wings over these past four years,\u201d said Armando Lara-Millan, a Warriors fan of more than 30 years from Oakland.<\/p>\n

A supporter from day one, Lara-Millan still owns Kuminga\u2019s NBA G League Ignite jersey from before the wing was drafted and regularly posts to his defense on social media. To him, the frustration goes beyond recent decisions about the rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t accepted that attaching future first round picks to an asset our own coach distressed will make our team irrelevant for years to come,\u201d he said on the prospect of an upcoming trade deal and the Warriors\u2019 impending transition out of the dynastic era.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inside the locker room, Kuminga\u2019s absence from the rotation hasn\u2019t translated into any bad blood with his teammates. The players make that clear, and Butler was direct when asked about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could care less if he\u2019s out of the rotation,\u201d Butler said. \u201cThat\u2019s my friend. That\u2019s my brother. That\u2019s not going to change. Basketball is basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Draymond Green also pushed back on any suggestion that Kuminga is disengaged on a recent episode of his podcast, sharing a story of Kuminga coaching Brandin Podziemski through the frustration of playing in short spurts.<\/p>\n

\"AKuminga has averaged 11.8 points in 18 games this season. | Source: Kelley L Cox\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people try to say, \u2018Ah, man he\u2019s moping,\u2019 no, no, no \u2026 whatever happens at the trade deadline, if Jonathan Kuminga\u2019s moved, whoever gets Jonathan Kuminga, that\u2019s the guy you\u2019re getting,\u201d Green said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For fans like Lara-Millan, Kuminga\u2019s exit would be the final outcome of years of mismanagement. One that he says should prompt a broader reckoning with the coaching staff.<\/p>\n

Others are beginning to make peace with what comes next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want us to do right by the team,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI look at it differently in that way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,479,164,4025,4024,867,6,66,255],"class_list":{"0":"post-531841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-golden-state","10":"tag-golden-state-warriors","11":"tag-goldenstate","12":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","13":"tag-jonathan-kuminga","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-warriors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115882690544526819","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}