Warriors coach Steve Kerr reacts to report of Jonathan Kuminga’s frustration: ‘It creates a distraction’
Upon hearing news that Jonathan Kuminga was frustrated with his playing time, Steve Kerr said he spoke to all of his players to remind them that these issues are best kept private.
SAN FRANCISCO — Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had a message for his players on Friday: “My door is always open.”
Upon hearing news that Jonathan Kuminga was frustrated with his playing time in the Warriors’ 130-127 last-second loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, Kerr said he spoke to all of his players to remind them that these issues are best kept private.
“Anytime something like that goes public, it creates a distraction,” Kerr said before the Warriors’ game against the Detroit Pistons on Friday evening. “I think it’s important for all of our guys, and I talked to our whole team about this, ‘you got an issue? I’m here. I’m the most accessible coach in the league, probably.”
The Athletic ran a story on Friday that quoted “sources close to Kuminga” that said Kuminga “no longer believes Kerr will allow him to reach his full potential,” adding that Thursday’s game was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Kuminga, who started the game, finished with 16 points while going 5-for-7 from the floor with four rebounds, four assists and a team-high plus-6 in 19 minutes.
He was subbed out for Andrew Wiggings with 5:48 remaining in the third quarter and never went back in. The Warriors were down, 85-84, when Kuminga came out of the game. They built a 107-94 lead by the end of the third quarter, but blew it in a disastrous fourth quarter that ended when Nikola Jokic hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to seal the win for the Nuggets.
Asked on Friday about his decision not to play Kuminga in the fourth quarter, Kerr expressed some regret.
“It came down to sticking with Wiggs because I thought he was doing a good job,” Kerr said. “At the end of the game I looked at the box score and I’m like, ‘JK only played 19 minutes – I got to get him out there for longer.’ But these are really difficult decisions because it’s not just as simple as how many minutes he plays. It’s who’s playing, what’s the combination, what’s happening in the game?”
Kerr said he hasn’t been able to find opportunities for both Wiggins and Kuminga to stay on the floor together, noting that it messes up the spacing. He said he’d love to experiment with that combination, “but we’re still trying to win so we don’t have a long time to explore if something is not going well.”
“At this point our closing lineups have been different, often night after night,” he said. “So we haven’t been able to find that one five-man group that we’re automatically going to go to. That makes it tricky for the players and for the staff, too.”
Asked about players getting frustrated with their playing time, Kerr said, “I played for 15 years and in all 15 I was frustrated with my playing time. This is how it works. This is the most competitive, lucrative league in the world. Every team has 15-17 guys who are all dying to play. Everyone is frustrated. So a big part of being successful in this league is learning how to navigate the frustration.”
Kuminga, 21, has played well of late, but learning how to deal with difficult moments is part of his growing process, Kerr said.
The coach said he encourages all his players to talk to him privately instead of going public with their complaints.
“It’s a difficult situation because every player naturally has his own goals, his own dreams,” Kerr said. “Everybody wants to flourish and blossom. And we have a lot of guys who are capable of playing. I have very difficult decisions to make each and every night.”