Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga Says Steve Kerr Benched Him Over Text

On Tuesday night the Golden State Warriors took down the New Orleans Pelicans, 124-106, in the team’s first game without Steph Curry this season. It was a bit of a rollercoaster of an evening for young forward Jonathan Kuminga, as reports emerged prior to tip-off that he was getting benched by head coach Steve Kerr after starting the first three games of the year.

It came across as another controversial decision from Kerr involving a young rotation player after several years’ worth of them, and Kuminga revealed to reporters after the game that he didn’t really have a conversation with the head coach about the decision. Instead, Kerr informed him via text.

“It wasn’t my decision,” Kuminga said, via ESPN’s Kendra Andrews. “I got a text, this is how it’s going to go, this is who it’s going to be, and I went with it. What am I supposed to do … ask why am I not starting? This is the decision of the coach, and we will follow what he’s going to do.”

As to the why of it all, Kerr explained after the game that the starting lineup was missing a lot of shooting with Curry and Andrew Wiggins both out. He felt it made more sense to have Buddy Hield and Moses Moody out there with the starting five to provide spacing. Which logically lines up, as both players are shooting over 50% from three to start the year while Kuminga is shooting 16%.

Ultimately the decision to bench Kuminga didn’t have an effect on his playing time. He played a season-high 28 minutes, finishing with 17 points, two steals, and one block. But as Kuminga plays out the last year of his rookie contract before hitting restricted free agency, how these situations unfold is worth monitoring.