Warriors’ Steve Kerr unsure about Jonathan Kuminga’s rehab from knee tendinitis originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Jonathan Kuminga already has missed the Warriors’ last five games due to bilateral patellar tendinitis, and it doesn’t seem like a return to action is imminent.
Advertisement
Golden State coach Steve Kerr shared an uncertain update on Sunday, failing to provide much of a timeline for the young forward’s recovery from what is effectively soreness in both knees.
“He’s got to tell you where he is,” Kerr told reporters when asked about Kuminga’s activity on Sunday [h/t ClutchPoints’ Kenzo Fukuda. “He didn’t do anything. We didn’t do scrimmages, but we did live drill work, and he barely did any of that. So, [he’s] not moving well, so training staff [is] working with him. I have no idea what he’s doing.”
Still, Kerr asserted Kuminga’s status remains day to day.
“Honestly, I just talked to the training staff. They tell me it’s day to day,” Kerr explained. “So, talking to JK, and he said he’s not moving that well, so I can’t tell you what the outlook is.
Advertisement
“JK can tell you that better than I could, so he needs to feel better and be able to move better before we can put him out there. Maybe we’ll get imaging done on the knee, but yeah, we got to figure it out. We missed him. We played in Miami, when we were missing all our guys. The other night, we were tired. We need him, but he’s got to get right before he can play.”
Communication between the Warriors’ staff and Kuminga already has been a hot topic in recent days, and there appears to be some disconnect between Kerr and the promising 23-year-old regarding this ongoing injury.
“I didn’t talk to him today, but I was hoping that he was going to scrimmage today,” Kerr continued after a follow-up question about the exact nature of the ailment. “But he didn’t do that, so it’s obviously worse than we thought.”
Kuminga is averaging 13.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 27.7 minutes across 13 games during the 2025-26 NBA season. He started in the Warriors’ first 12 regular-season games before coming off the bench in Golden State’s win over the San Antonio Spurs on Nov. 12.
Advertisement
However, Kuminga reportedly felt like the “scapegoat” as a result of that change in his role, and he hasn’t played in any games since then. Golden State has gone 2-3 in his recent absence with three straight losses as the team tries to get back to winning ways after a hot start to the season.
