Training camp is still a week away, which means the Golden State Warriors are unable to hold any team-run events. Steve Kerr is surely meeting with his assistant coaches to game plan the upcoming season and the practices that will soon take place, but he can’t actually run those practices. Not until camp begins.
But that doesn’t keep players from practicing together. League rules prohibit teams from sanctioning practices in the offseason, but players are free to play basketball all they want. And if they just so happen to be playing basketball with other professional basketball players employed by the same team that they’re on, well … that’s just beneficial to everyone.
Those sort of player-led team-wide workouts have become increasingly popular in recent years. And in the latest bit of (arguably manufactured) drama surrounding Jonathan Kuminga, we now know that he didn’t participate in the Warriors iteration. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Jimmy Butler III is taking on a leadership role in his first full season with the team, and organized a team minicamp in San Diego this week. According to Charania, “the only player on the potential Warriors roster that isn’t there is restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga.”
Depending on your viewpoint, this is a big deal or absolutely nothing at all. It could be that Kuminga, who will have to make a decision on the Qualifying Offer in the next week, is prioritizing time with his agent and the Warriors brass, as they try to negotiate a deal. It’s possible that he wants to avoid a setting where he could potentially injure himself and tank his value before signing a contract, and is instead sticking to individual workouts. It could even be that he doesn’t want to be a distraction to his teammates.
Then again, it might be something that Butler, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green don’t take kindly to. While Kuminga is generally liked and respected in Golden State’s locker room, that can quickly fade if his actions are perceived as putting himself over the team … especially given that the Warriors leaders are Curry (who was dramatically underpaid in his first post-rookie contract deal) and Green (who took a discount on his last contract to facilitate team-building).
While we don’t know how that leadership triumvirate — or the coaching staff — views Kuminga’s omission from the team-building week in sunny SoCal, it’s not worth worrying about whether or not Kuminga will be committed to the team this year. According to multiple reports, he’ll show up ready to work as soon as there’s a contract resolution, and will not consider holding out or requesting a trade.
Kuminga is, obviously, the notable part of this report, but Charania’s wording made me think of something else. By listing the players at the minicamp as “the potential Warriors roster,” was Charania implying that presumptive free agent signings like Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, and Seth Curry are partaking in the practices and scrimmages and team-building exercises? Or is Charania just referring to players on non-guaranteed contracts? Hopefully we find out more details from the unofficial start of training camp.
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