Austin Rivers rips Golden State over the ‘stupidity’ of Jonathan Kuminga’s treatment

ByNBAUSA



After months of waiting, Golden State Warriors they have entered the period of the season when they can finally push forward Jonathan Cumminga. As of Jan. 15, Kuminga became eligible for a trade, and the Warriors will have three weeks until the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline to find a new home for Kuminga.

The situation was frustrating for everyone involved, from the owners and coaches to the players and fans. Former NBA guard and current NBC sports analyst Austin Riverhowever, he took his frustrations to a new level on a recent episode of his podcast.

Having had another up-and-down season with the Warriors so far, Rivers took to his podcast, Off Guard, to discuss Jonathan Cumminga’s current situation with the Golden State Warriors, where he’s not playing despite the team’s clear need for a shooter next to him. Stephen Curry, Draymond Greenand Jimmy Butler.

“The Jonathan Kuminga situation is complete nonsense,” Austin Rivers explained on his podcast. “The way they treated Kuminga is something I haven’t seen in a long time. OK, this is a 20-point-per-game caliber player. I know that because he did it. When guys were hurt, he was literally 20-plus in a month and some change. I’m not making this up, this happened. OK, he wasn’t even in the lineup last year.” they bring him in one game off the bench, he scores 30. Okay?

Kuminga played in just 18 games for the Warriors this season, averaging 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 43.1 percent from the field and 32 percent from three. He started 13 games for the Warriors, including the first 12 games after Steve Kerr named him the starter before their third game of the season.

But things quickly deteriorated to the point where Jonathan Kuminga hasn’t played a game since Dec. 18 against the Phoenix Suns. He’s been a healthy scratch for most of this stretch, as the Warriors keep him on the team and in practice, but don’t play him.

“Kuminga is an amazing talent and athlete!” The rivers continued. “I’m talking about him doing things on the court jump-wise and the explosions that people are like, ‘whoa!’ How the hell does this guy not get a minute on a Warriors team?! It drives me crazy! I watch the Warriors all the time! I watch more basketball now than ever in my life because of my new job at NBC. And I’m looking at this piss poor Warriors team and I’m thinking how the hell doesn’t this guy come off the bench?! I watch Podziemski, Moody, a bunch of other random assholes and those guys are good. And Moody’s solid, Podziemski’s solid. They have other players I’ve never heard of. Pat Spencer plays before Kuminga! He did not play in 14 games. He is 6-foot-8 and a shooter. The Warriors struggle to score half the time and have a 20 point per game player sitting on the end of the bench because the coach doesn’t like him. It’s personal and I know it because I’m close to Kuminga’s camp. I know about things I can’t say on the air.”

The biggest problem — or at least what the Warriors have said publicly — is how to get lineups featuring Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green and Jonathan Cummings to play together on the court as three non-shooters.

Head coach Steve Kerr mentioned that last season after acquiring Butler, the Warriors had to find a balance to play their young forward with the new star.

That’s exactly what Rivers addressed.

“Who else teams and scorer in a knockdown – like, knockdown – besides Steph (Curry)?” Rivers asked.

“(Moses) Moody,” replied Rivers’ co-host Pausha Haghighi.

“Okay, so that’s the point,” Rivers began to counter. “So why is Kuminga the guy everyone’s like, ‘he doesn’t fit. He’s not a shooter.’ Man, the whole team is not a shooter! Nobody shoots but Steph! Nobody’s a knockdown knockdown but Steph. So screwing with Kuming doesn’t suit their play style. Neither did Jimmy and you brought him. It doesn’t make sense.

“Them bringing in Jimmy, who is a replica of what Kuminga does in a way, is the biggest contradiction to Kuminga as a whole—Kuminga probably saw that and said, ‘wait, why haven’t you ever played me? Why are you bringing him in and never played me?’ He can’t shoot. Draymond (Green) can’t shoot. Gary Payton can’t shoot. All these guys can’t shoot. But Kuminga can’t play now. People would say, well, ‘Gary Payton knows his role, he knows how to present himself, he always moves the ball, he knows how to play Steph well. Ok, fair enough. So I’ll give him and Draymond a pass. Draymond is obviously Draymond Green, so I give these two a pass. Dog, the rest of the list is still what?”

For what it’s worth, Rivers and the Curry family are close. Austin Rivers’ sister Kelly is the wife of Golden State Warriors guard Seth Curry, the star’s brother Stephen.

The Warriors have until February 5 to find a replacement for Jonathan Cumminga. After years of this back-and-forth with the organization trying to get him to play and adjust to a certain style, the Warriors are expected to part ways with their young power forward.





2026-01-17 01:18:00

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