The Golden State Warriors under contract were present at media day on Monday, but Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler were ready to opine about their teammate's situation.
The Golden State Warriors reconvened Monday morning at Chase Center for their media day before training camp.
Those under contract, anyway.
"Anytime a teammate's not here, it sucks," forward Draymond Green said from his seat at the dais atop the stage in the venue's Bill King Interview Room. "Obviously not having multiple here due to the situation, it's unfortunate because I think media day - it marks the start of something. You know, it marks the start of another NBA season."
The situation Green - and Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler - spoke of Monday morning is forward Jonathan Kuminga's restricted free agency, unresolved on the eve of Golden State's first practice of 2025-26. The deadlock between Kuminga and the Warriors is delaying the signings of center Al Horford and guard De'Anthony Melton, neither of whom conducted media day news conferences without formalizing their free-agent agreements.
Head coach Steve Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy did not conduct news conferences, but will this week.
"I think it sucks for all those guys involved, including JK," Green continued during his 14th media day. "You don't get the opportunity to start your thing how you normally start your thing."
Kuminga's restricted free agency was triggered in June by the tendering of his one-year qualifying offer worth $7.9 million that guarantees unrestricted free agency next summer. The offer expires at 9 p.m. Wednesday, unless Kuminga and the Warriors agree to extend the deadline, extending his restricted free agency until a contract is consummated.
Golden State has offered the forward multiple multi-year deals with team options and respective worths of $45 million and $75.2 million, in addition to a three-year, $54 million contract. Kuminga's agent, Verus Management Team president Aaron Turner, campaigned this month to media outlets (ESPN, 95.7 The Game, NBC Sports Bay Area) for player options instead of team options.
Thus, the business of basketball.
"We talk about it for sure," Curry acknowledged atop his 17th media day news conference. "As leaders on the team, you have to acknowledge what's going on and don't make it more than what it is, other than a team trying to figure out the situation that's in front of us and the challenge that's in front of us.
"This is a little different because you have a guy that's trying to figure out his situation, and we respect that process," Curry added. "It's going to play out, and when he's here - ready to work, like we expect him to be locked in on doing what he needs to do to help us win."
A fifth-year wing drafted seventh overall by the Warriors in 2021, Kuminga offers their aging roster - Curry is 37, Butler is 36, Green is 35, Horford is 39, and even Gary Payton II and Buddy Hield are 32 - explosion and force despite an imperfect fit. Their read-and-react offense that best leverages Curry hasn't meshed with Kuminga's on-ball preferences that resulted in an average of 24.3 points (on 55.4% shooting and 38.9% 3-point shooting) over his last four games in the Western Conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves, when the star guard was sidelined with a strained left hamstring.
Kuminga was Golden State's third-leading scorer (15.3 points, 45.4% shooting, 30.5% 3-point shooting) in 2024-25. He's a dynamic driver, imposing finisher, streaky shooter and passer with traits prototypical of a premier point-of-attack defender. He best deployed his skills in the read-and-react offense during a six-game stretch in midseason, averaging 24.3 points (52.7% shooting, 35% 3-point shooting) and 8 rebounds before sustaining a severe right ankle sprain.
"I hope it gets resolved," Butler said ahead of his 15th season. "I know what that is like. I've been in this league going on 15 years now and it will get handled, and I know that both sides will be happy in the end. We all love JK and we all want this organization to be happy, and we're going to let JK and this organization figure it out."
Kuminga's negotiations notwithstanding, optimism wasn't dampened for Curry, who said the Warriors were "a relevant threat" last season and have since improved. They finished last season on a 23-8 run after adding Butler via trade. Through that stretch they were both the league's top defense (allowing 109 points per 100 possessions) and eighth-rated offense (118.2).
Golden State then beat the Houston Rockets in its first-round playoff matchup, an exhausting seven-game series that preceded Curry's left hamstring strain.
"We were playing playoff basketball for 3½ months," Green said, referencing the intensity required for the last 31 games before they reached postseason play. "That's just hard for anybody. I don't care if you are 37 or 27. You've got to play playoff basketball that long, it's tough. … We wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to win a championship. We did that. I think it caught up to us in the end. I'm actually happy to have an 82-game season and not a 35-game season because now you can go about the season the right way."
With Kuminga. Eventually.
"This isn't the first contract negotiation that's went longer than everybody expected and that went different than the team wanted it to go or much different than the player wanted it to go," Green said. "It ain't the first one and it's by far not the last one. We will see this over and over again in this league, because ultimately, it's a business, and you're trying to put your business in the best position to be successful.
"We are individuals that when you go to the negotiation table, you don't go to the negotiation table with the team. You go to the negotiation table with your team, by yourself. Meaning - you've got to try and do what's best for you, and that's what Jonathan is doing and that's what he deserves to do."
Category: General Sports
