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Tim Bontemps believes what Warriors need from Jonathan Kuminga isn’t ‘his skillset’

Originally posted on NBA Analysis Network
By Aaditya Krishnamurthy | Last updated Oct 10, 2025 12:20 PM ET

Tim Bontemps claims that the Golden State Warriors are asking Jonathan Kuminga to do something he just isn’t built to do.

Despite his drawn-out contract saga with the Golden State Warriors now behind him, there are still more questions than answers surrounding Jonathan Kuminga.

More specifically, many are concerned about how his relationship with Steve Kerr will be fixed. Kerr’s initial comments after Kuminga re-signed suggested that there is still some bad blood between the two.

In another interview, Kerr accused Kuminga’s agent of misrepresenting certain instructions he gave to the young star during last season.

For now, Kuminga isn’t wasting his energy by bothering Kerr about his role on the team. Instead, he wants to do what the team needs. Unfortunately for him, what the team needs isn’t what he can do easily.

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Tim Bontemps says Jonathan Kuminga won’t be comfortable with Warriors demands

Tim Bontemps and Anthony Slater made a Golden State Warriors report recently for ESPN. When discussing Jonathan Kuminga’s preseason and his fit on the team, Bontemps made a good point.

He believes that the Warriors need Kuminga to make open threes and play defense, which isn’t something he is good at. And he expects this difference in demand and skillset to cause problems.

“That is the problem with Kuminga’s fit on the Warriors. There are times when his straight-line driving and his ability to get to the rim is going to be important.

“If he can get to the foul line along with Jimmy, if he can get some foul shots in the game and he’s aggressive in that manner, that can really be a useful thing for them.

“But, he also needs to be a guy that can really guard on the ball and can hit an open three. And that’s just not his skillset.

“He can guard on the ball, for sure. But he’s not going to be a guy who’s going to be comfortable taking a lot of catch-and-shoot threes.

“The fit is just clunky. It’s going to be clunky. Everybody knows that. I do think it’s good and not super surprising that he showed up and is trying to get along with everybody…

“It does feel like this is just going to be the inevitable way this is going to go, until there’s either an injury to the main guys or they’re able to find a deal after January 15th to move him.”