SAN FRANCISCO – Steph Curry, dressed in his iconic No. 30 jersey, fielded questions about a teammate who was conspicuously absent from the Warriors’ media day festivities at Chase Center on Monday.
Jonathan Kuminga, the former No. 7 selection in the 2021 NBA Draft, remains in limbo, a restricted free agent who has yet to sign the $7.9 million qualifying offer tendered to him in June. Kuminga has until 8:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday, the day after training camp begins, to accept.
Curry, 37, says that neither he nor fellow veteran leaders Jimmy Butler or Draymond Green, hold any ill will toward the 22-year-old who is seeking a new contract and a bigger role.
In fact, they, along with their teammates, expect Kuminga to be in training camp sooner rather than later.
“I don’t see no problem in it, you know,” said Gary Payton II, who re-signed with the team Monday. “Get back, get to practice. Get back to what we were doing. I didn’t see anything different.”
Kuminga averaged 15.3 points per game last season, but struggled to find consistent playing time in coach Steve Kerr’s rotations after returning from a severe ankle injury in March. Kerr did not speak to media on Monday.
Kuminga and his agent, Aaron Turner, have been vocal about their desire for a featured offensive role on whatever team Kuminga plays for.
“We’ve all been around long enough to know how to separate the business of it from the basketball of it,” Curry said of himself, Green and Butler. “Those are two totally different areas.”
Was it business as usual? Not quite. But Curry did not seem phased by the situation.
“I think everything we do around here is unique for sure,” Curry said, later adding. “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.“
The situation may have been deemed “uncommon,” but describing Kuminga’s contract negotiations as strictly business was a common refrain parroted by various Warriors players.
“The other side of basketball, being a business of it, it’s kind of personal to an extent,” said Moses Moody, also picked by the Warriors in the 2021 draft class. “It’s not really on me to get into and discuss.”
Among those who echoed that sentiment was Green, who began his news conference wearing glasses that read “BOOM” and proceeded to speak emphatically about his absent teammate.
“I do think he still wants to be here, and he said that to me, that he still wants to be here,” Green said.
Are there any hard feelings toward the negotiations lasting into the start of training camp? Not a chance.
“He’s got to do what he’s got to do for himself,” Green said. “This is a business and I think that’s what you always have to understand.”
As a 14-year veteran, the power forward believed there was nothing unusual about what is going on between Kuminga and the Warriors. He noted that both he and 10-year veteran Kevon Looney each had similar negotiations with the franchise as young players, and that did not stop them from becoming key contributors to championship teams.
“It’s one side trying to get the better of the other side, and when you’re trying to do that, just like in a basketball game, tempers flare,” Green said. “Things get heated. Sometimes people get kicked out of the room. Sometimes people walk back in the room. That’s just how it goes.”
Butler was in lockstep with his veteran teammates.
“I know what that is like,” Butler said. “I’ve been in this league going on 15 years now. It will get handled and I know that both sides will be happy in the end.”
Though Kuminga has not made any public comments since free agency began, Turner has embarked on a media tour on his client’s behalf.
“You don’t get a perfect deal, but you get a pretty good deal and he gets to feel respected about what he gets and we all move on and worry about winning, helping Steph,” Turner said on a recent ESPN podcast.
Curry declared that he did not pay any attention to such comments, even those that pertain to him as he tries to win another title.
“I only listen to my teammate,” Curry said. “I don’t listen to agents or anybody speaking on behalf. I (will) hear that from JK.”
Every player who spoke about Kuminga over the course of the four-hour event said they wanted him to be back for a season that begins on Oct. 21 in Los Angeles against the Lakers.
“These things happen,” Green said. “You move on from them. If he signs a contract, comes out and plays great, everybody will forget and move on. That’s the world we live in.”