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Ohm Youngmisuk
SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said that he wants to bring back Jonathan Kuminga and that his return is “very reasonable and actionable.”
Kuminga, 22, is set to become a restricted free agent after a roller coaster season in which he scored a career-high 34 points twice and played some of his best basketball shortly before suffering a serious ankle injury in early January.
The Warriors acquired Jimmy Butler while he was out. Kuminga returned but fell out of the rotation. He excelled at times in the last four games of the second round against Minnesota with Stephen Curry out.
“We value JK,” Dunleavy said. “I think he had a resilient season. … As far as bringing him back next season, I think it’s something we’re very interested in doing because, when I look at the things JK does well, in terms of getting to the rim, finishing, getting fouled, these are things we greatly need. We know he can bring those to the table. It’s not hypothetical.”
Dunleavy added: “For that reason, we’ll try to bring him back, but you’ve got to have those conversations. You’ve got to figure it out. It’s a two-way street in terms of creating — getting a new contract and all of that. So, we’ll see where it goes.”
Kuminga could sign with Golden State or sign an offer sheet with a team with cap space. The Warriors would have the right to match. A sign-and-trade is also a possibility.
“I know where I see him as a player,” Dunleavy said. “I know how we can work with him better. But in terms of guessing how it’s all going to play out or what the contract might look like or sign-and-trades and things like that, honestly, I’d be totally guessing at this point to conjecture on anything.
“JK has been here for four years. We’ve worked with him. He’s put in a lot of time. Despite him not playing in some playoff games, I think it’s very reasonable and actionable for him to come back.”
Coach Steve Kerr said if Kuminga remains with the Warriors, Kerr is committed to making things fit better than they did after Butler arrived at the trade deadline while Kuminga was injured. When Kuminga returned from his ankle injury in mid-March, the Warriors were much different with Butler and had turned around their season as they went 23-8 after Butler’s debut Feb. 8.
Kuminga played in 15 games after his return from injury but fell out of the rotation in the final game of the regular season.
“If JK comes back, we will, for sure, spend the early part of the season playing him with Jimmy, Draymond [Green], Steph,” Kerr said. “To me, that would be a no-brainer. We didn’t have that luxury this year. We were fighting, we basically have been in the playoffs since the minute we got Jimmy and that also was when JK got hurt. We spent [31] games without JK and went on that run, we found a formula that worked.
“When he did come back, it was a tough fit. But we also didn’t have the luxury of experimenting and give that more of a runway. If JK comes back, we have to look at that, for sure.”
Kuminga averaged 15.3 points in 47 games this season. He scored 34 points in back-to-back games in late December against the Clippers and Suns. Three games later, he suffered an ankle injury. But he displayed his athletic potential when Curry suffered a Grade 1 left hamstring strain in Game 1 against Minnesota in the second round. Kuminga averaged 24.2 points in Games 2 through 5 with Curry out.
“I thought he had a really good year,” Kerr said. “He was really coming into his own before he got hurt. The injury really hurt him. When he came back from the injury, he was not in rhythm, he was not the same player he was when he got hurt. So that put kind of a little bit of an obstacle in our way as we are trying to get to the playoffs.
“It felt square peg, round hole for us. We obviously went away from JK as part of the rotation, and he handled it really well. … He’s a guy who has got a lot of talent and ability, still growing, still raw in many ways, but a lot of what we have to figure out is roster construction and combination. … Combinations were tricky. We have to do a better job as a staff of figuring out some things and how we are going about our business. JK has got things to improve on, and we got to improve our roster all-in-all.”
Kerr and Dunleavy believe the Warriors are not far from a championship team with a healthy core of Curry, Butler and Green playing together for a full season. But Kerr and Dunleavy said the roster needs improvement, whether by adding more size, shooting and two-way players who can shoot and defend.
“Look, we’re talking about all this stuff, but a week ago, we’re up 1-0 in the conference semis,” Kerr said. “We feel like we’ve got a real shot at winning a championship. I still felt that way after the fact.
“So, I don’t think we’re that far away, put it that way.”
Dunleavy did not rule out possibly acquiring and parting with future players or draft picks for a star if it pushes the Warriors closer to a title.
He made it clear the team is focused on winning a title with Curry, Butler and Green next season.
“We’re good giving up whatever it takes,” Dunleavy said. “It just depends how good we think that will make our team. I think the only issue with mortgaging the future is you just don’t want to get caught. I don’t want to get caught in a situation where we give up a ton, put all our chips in, and then 10 games into the season, we have a catastrophic injury, there’s nowhere to go, and then we’re stuck for four or five years.”
