Warriors stars not worried about Kuminga's absence, commitment

ByFrances Wang KGO logo

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Media Day for the Golden State Warriors is usually about fresh starts, but for the team this year, there is still a lot of unfinished business left from summertime talks.

The Warriors' roster still has a question mark, and it's a big one.

Young star forward Jonathan Kuminga was notably absent from Chase Center on Monday afternoon. Many of his teammates and key players addressed the ongoing contract standoff.

"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," said Stephen Curry. "This is a little different because you have a guy that's trying to figure out his situation, and we respect that process. 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."

Curry elaborated on the team's expectations of Kuminga if the deal gets done by Wednesday's deadline.

"When he comes and he's here, he should be a professional and do exactly what he expects to do and take advantage of his opportunities to help us win," said Curry. "Everybody who is in the locker room, that's what you're committed to do. So I don't have any concerns that he'll approach it that way, and that's what we expect."

Draymond Green said he doesn't think the situation will go on much longer.

"Do I think he still wants to be here? Yeah, I do think he still wants to be here, and he said that to me, that he still wants to be here," said Green.

For Green, it's his 14th season and 14th Media Day with the Warriors. He reflected on the importance of being here on this day.

"It's kind of that stamp of like, all right, it's about to get real. So I think everyone deserves the opportunity to feel that, including him," said Green of Kuminga's absence. "You know, like he'll look back on this and I'll walk in and you know, you're like what Media Day is this for you and you always have that little asterisk in your mind, like oh I missed one."

Jimmy Butler joined the team halfway through last season, but has already been lauded as a team leader, setting the tone with a mini training camp ahead of official training camp for his teammates at his San Diego home. Many of the players were talking about what it meant to them.

"The mini-camp in San Diego was great, No. 1, just to be with the guys, spend some time together. Jimmy was an incredible host," said Green. "He has the wine cellar of an emperor. It's amazing. And just setting the tone and getting everybody together and what it is that we are setting out to do, and that kind of marks the beginning of it.

Butler responded to Draymond's reaction: "He definitely grabbed some bottles. He didn't tell you? They were pricey. Me no likey."

On the Kuminga situation, Butler had this to say.

"I'm not into all that. I hope it gets resolved. 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," said Butler, adding, "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."

Curry feels the ongoing saga with Kuminga adds to the Warriors' unique story.

"I think everything we do around here is unique for sure. So it kind of adds to that journey. Us being realistically championship relevant for this long is unique. Us trying to maintain that for as long as we have is unique, and JK's situation is unique. Me being in my position where I'm at in my stage of my career is unique," said Curry. "Like the whole deal is just you've got to take the good with the chaos, as well, of it because it is kind of unprecedented."

As for talks about signing NBA veteran Al Horford, Green addressed it 'theoretically' when answering a question from the press about playing center versus forward.

"In an ideal world, I'll play more 4," said Green. After a long pause, Green continued: Having, am I allowed to say? Theoretically, having Al Horford can help with that."