Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr shared good and bad news surrounding Jonathan Kuminga‘s recovery from a significant ankle injury that has kept him on the shelf since Jan. 4.
First the good news.
“He scrimmaged today for the second time,” Kerr said on 95.7 The Game’s “Willard and Dibs” show on Monday, Feb. 24. “The first one was just half court. Today was his first full-court scrimmage, and he looked good. He was moving well. His conditioning is coming. He’s done a lot of hard work to try and stay in shape, but there’s nothing like playing full-court. So he needs more of those scrimmages.”
Then the bad news.
“Unfortunately, we don’t really have any scrimmage time with our regulars coming up with all the games we have,” Kerr added. “So JK will go on the trip with us, and we will have scrimmages involving coaches and some of the younger guys who don’t play as much. We’ll give JK as much time as he needs. And whenever he’s ready, he’s ready. But he looked good today, came out of it pretty well. I talked to him afterward. He’s feeling good, so everything’s coming along as we’d hoped so far.”
Kerr was also non-committal on Kuminga’s role once he returns.
“It’s just too hard to try to predict where we’ll be once JK comes back and I love the starting group right now,’ Kerr explained. “We’re in a good groove. Hopefully, we’re healthy when JK comes back we don’t have any other injuries or anything but until that time comes I don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about how we’re going to play it — who’s coming off the bench all that stuff. We just got to keep going one game at a time.”
Why Fix if It Ain’t Broke?
Kerr has a good reason not to shake up their new starting lineup of Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Butler, Moses Moody and Draymond Green.
The Warriors are 5-1 with Butler heading into Tuesday (Feb. 25) meeting against the lowly Charlotte Hornets at home.
Butler has meshed well with that starting group, especially with Podziemski while Moody is finally breaking out with a defined role and regular minutes.
Moody is averaging 12.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists over his last six games.
“I think it’s the best two-way starting group we can put on the floor,” Kerr told reporters after their Feb. 21 win over Sacramento Kings. “You get Moses’ shooting, you get BP’s playmaking to go with Steph and Jimmy. Then Draymond and Jimmy at the five and four defensively behind the play. We lack size, but we have a lot of brainpower back there.”
The Warriors are 9-0 this season and 23-9 overall when Moody starts. In contrast, they are 4-6 this season and 44-40 overall when Kuminga starts.
Bench Role Could Negatively Impact Jonathan Kuminga’s Next Contract
But there is hope for Kuminga to enter the starting lineup once he gets his groove back with Kerr’s non-committal tone his role was a 180-degree turn from his earlier comment following the Warriors’ 132-108 rout of the Kings.
“I imagine we will stay with this lineup,” Kerr told reporters. “I hope so. Because we’ve had a million different starting lineups this year. It’d be really nice to stick with this for the rest of the season and keep building continuity with our lineups.”
“JK was coming off the bench before he got injured and was playing really well, playing 30-plus minutes,” Kerr continued. “We had that rotation before he got hurt. We’re playing well right now. Hopefully, that continues. I’m never going to commit to anything because it’s dependent on how we’re playing. But if we keep playing like this, we’ll keep starting this way.”
Kuminga coming off the bench could negatively affect his next contract. He was “aiming for” a $35 million annual salary during their failed extension talks in the offseason, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater reported in the last offseason.
That’s too much for a player coming off the bench.
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