Jonathan Kuminga is set to rejoin the Warriors on a 2-year contract.
As soon as Jonathan Kuminga shows up to rejoin the Golden State Warriors, coach Steve Kerr plans an immediate conversation with the dynamic forward to make sure they are on the same page as the season begins.
Kuminga was expected to arrive in the Bay Area on Wednesday and be at Chase Center on Thursday to go through a physical and likely his first practice since signing a two-year contract Tuesday that could be worth up to $46.5 million.
“The first thing is a great conversation with JK. To me at the heart of any good team culture is communication,” Kerr said Wednesday, when the Warriors also signed 39-year-old center Al Horford. “We have to have a really good sit down.”
Kerr said he reached out several times to Kuminga over the summer, as he keeps tabs with all his players, and said that “he and I have always gotten along well.”
Kerr shares a moment with Kuminga after his 33-point game in a win over the Rockets last December.
One message Kerr plans to make clear: The offense will revolve around Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler III, and Kuminga will have to pick his moments while focusing on the defensive end and running the floor to have a better chance of playing. Golden State’s first-round draft pick in 2021 will turn 23 on Monday.
“Everybody progresses at a different rate. Things can click, but those are the things I’m going to continue to ask of him,” Kerr said. “And I have no doubt, too, there’s going to be times this year where we’ve got to get him the ball and run the offense through him.”
In his fourth season with the Warriors, Kuminga averaged 15.3 PPG in 2024-25. He ended the year third in scoring on the team behind Stephen Curry (24.5 PPG) and Jimmy Butler III (17.9 PPG).
With Kuminga signed, as well as new additions Horford and Seth Curry, Golden State’s roster is ready for the 2025-26 NBA season.
Horford is ready to get going with his new team after spending the last four years in Boston, and leaving there “wasn’t an easy decision for me to make.” Playing for Kerr and alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Butler to chase a championship seemed like a great fit.
“If there was one place that I was going to leave was for this,” Horford said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
