Despite the season-ending ACL injury to Jimmy Butler, storylines surrounding the Golden State Warriors remain dominated by Jonathan Kuminga trade rumors.
Even after he demanded a trade, and less than two weeks before the February 5th NBA trade deadline, Kuminga is still on the roster. The rift between the player and organization has been known for a while and received much scrutiny from around the league, most recently by Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.
Speaking on ESPN’s Inside the NBA, Barkley gave his honest thoughts on the Warriors’ ongoing situation with Kuminga.
“That relationship is over!”
“That relationship is over. It’s really unfortunate that Jimmy Butler got hurt. He’s a terrific guy and a terrific player. The Kuminga thing is over,” Barkley said. “He’s only playing because Jimmy got hurt.”
Kuminga was previously held out by Warriors head coach Steve Kerr for almost a month, but after the Butler injury, he was finally slotted back into the rotation. He scored 20 points in his first game back, but then went down with an injury in his second game, set to miss the team’s upcoming contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Charles Barkley On The Jonathan Kuminga Situation
Barkley, a longtime NBA pundit and one of the best to ever play, has never been afraid to state his thoughts on players and teams across the league. That remained the case on Saturday as he spoke about what has been a long and continued saga between Kuminga and the Warriors, which, at this point, still has yet to reach a closing point.
“They must not think he can play,” Barkley added. “I don’t know [if he can], I haven’t seen enough of him. They know him better than anybody. When they did not extend him, like all of the other rookies were extended, then he had the contentious contract negotiations. They didn’t want to pay him. On the outside looking in, they know something.”
The ‘beyond repair’ relationship between Kerr and Kuminga has been well documented, but in the past, when asked about the player, the coach has stayed firm that he doesn’t think the 23-year-old fits well in their current rotation. Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Butler have each also spoken about Kuminga, acknowledging the situation but stating that he is handling it well.
Amid both the Butler injury and continued Kuminga uncertainty, Barkley added that he thinks Curry is the biggest loser of it all.
“The biggest loser in the whole thing is Steph because they were not contenders now,” he said. “Steph is gonna finish the last part of his career on a mediocre team.”
“The biggest loser in the whole thing is Steph because they were not contenders now Steph is gonna finish the last part of his career on a mediocre team”
As of now, Kerr’s comments about the Warriors being a fading dynasty are true. Green has slowed down, Butler will be out for a long time, and they still have yet to trade Kuminga. Curry remains a top-tier player, but at this point, the support around him is perhaps the worst in over a decade.
Warriors-Timberwolves Game Postponed
Amid all of the Butler news and Kuminga drama, Golden State’s upcoming game against the Timberwolves has been postponed 24 hours due to the fatal shooting of a man by federal agents and ongoing protests in the city of Minneapolis.
“The National Basketball Association game scheduled for today between the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center has been postponed,” the league wrote in a statement. “The decision was made to prioritize the safety and security of the Minneapolis community.”
NBA insider Shams Charania confirmed the news and added that the contest has been rescheduled to Sunday, January 25th, at the same 5:30 pm EST tipoff time.
“Thousands marched across downtown Minneapolis on Friday afternoon, calling for an end to the ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in the state. The large-scale protests went past Target Center and the Warriors’ downtown team hotel,” Charania and Anthony Slater wrote for ESPN. “The shooting Saturday morning occurred about 2 miles south of the arena, sparking another round of protests from local citizens.”
Instead of airing on ESPN, the postponed game will air on NBA TV.
Charles Barkley Rips Warriors’ Kuminga Drama, Dubs Curry ‘Biggest Loser’