GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 15, 2025

Jonathan Kuminga

Media Conference

Q. The future will become a hot topic at restricted free agency gets here. How do you view your future here and your future in the league?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. I figure, I don't know, but you know -- I don't know. Still got to figure it out. Just finished playing one day ago. So I don't really -- I haven't think about anything yet.

Q. How difficult was, really, your four years here, but particularly this season, yo-yoing in and out of the rotation and even in the playoffs?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: There was some ups and downs. That's how life goes. But I had fun. I had a great time. I enjoy playing here. Yeah, there was some ups and downs.

Q. Do you think you proved something in these last few games, just to the league, to your coach, to anybody?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I don't think about proving. I just trying to go out there and win. I think that was just my biggest thing to go out there and try to win.

Q. Draymond mentioned that there was a defensive move you made coming off a guy, covering, I guess, Ant that was cutting out and he pointed out, now you're playing defense. Do you remember that moment and do you think you've accelerated the way you think in the defensive game?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I think defensive, I've got better. I got so much better. I think he talked to me about in the mid of the game but still have to see what action was it. But yeah, he talked to me in the middle of the game about it.

Q. What was your most playoff action that you've had since you've been here? How do you feel like that's going to help you moving forward in developing your game?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I think I've just got to go back and watch. I've still got to learn, study those moments. Just got to go back there and just learn and work towards it and see what else I could have done. And if I ever get those type of chances again, I could be impactful. I could help us win by any means.

Q. How much would you say you've grown in your four years here?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I have grown a lot. I have grown a lot. When I look back from day one when I got here compared to now, it's like, you know, it's a lot of things that, you know, people don't see. But me personally, I feel like I've grown a lot, as a player, as a person.

Q. Do you need to hear from this team or your next team that you're going to be in the rotation and there's no question about that? Is that something you want to know when you decide your future?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I don't know what the future is going to be. You know, it's something that any player would love to hear, going to a different year.

I'm looking forward to it, and I know it's going to happen. Somebody going to talk to me about how things will go next year. But you know, I'm just looking forward to that. I don't know. I don't know anything about what the future is holding for me. But just looking forward to it.

Q. Did the unsettled nature of your contract situation, do you think that had any impact on the year? You were obviously extension eligible last year and nothing got done. Do you think that had any impact on this past season?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: Not at all. Like I say, you know, I don't know what the future holds, you know, so anything that happen probably happen for a reason. I'm just grateful to be here at this time. I've still got a long summer to go to figure things out.

Q. How is your ankle feeling physically right now?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I feel good. I feel good. I feel healthy and good.

Q. How were exit interviews today, talking to Steve and Mike?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: They were great. I told things just end, you know. It's going to take us time to figure it out what's really going to happen, things like that. And I spoke to Steve about how he wanted me to just get better at rebounding more, and.

I feel like I was doing better before I got hurt. And I like where he was going with it. He explained to me little things, if any resource from him, things like that, and I don't have no problem doing that.

Q. Do you feel like that relationship is in a fine spot right now?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: Since I've been here, we've had ups and downs, you know. But you know, he helped me to get here and we got a lot of great moments. I think our relationship been very good.

Q. You have some options this off-season, you can talk to other teams. What's that like for you? Is it exciting? Nervous? How do you feel?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I don't know how those things goes. I think I'll learn more going through this summer with my agent. So I don't know. I don't know how that will go. But it don't really matter. I'm going to keep that - -I'm going to let my agent handle things like that, and I'll just listen to what he going to tell me.

Q. How was the season overall, playing your best basketball, and then have the longest injury of your career and then Jimmy Butler is added and you come back to essentially a brand new team. What do you think about the roller coasters this year?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: It was tough. It was tough. Playing great, and then things like that happen. I didn't let (it get me) down. I just went to rehab every other day, tried to get better, and I came back to a completely different team.

And I had to figure out how to be impactful with the new team. Like I say, it was ups and downs. But I didn't put my head down and just say, Oh, I don't want to get better or figure it out.

You know, I tried to figure it out. I had tough moments.

Q. Overall, was this a happy season for you? Was it a frustrating season?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: No, it was actually a great season. Especially I had to learn more about myself when I got hurt, you know. I had to change a lot of things. It was -- I would say it was a successful season. I would say it was a great season. I'm not mad about it.

Q. How did you emotionally kind of get through it all? You always seem to be handling yourself pretty well. With the injury, I saw you still with a smile on your face, and that's not always easy, either, to be away from the game you love. How did you get through some of those hard moments?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: Just leave it all to God. I have my mom, she a pastor. She pray for me pretty much every other day. I have good friends. I have great teammates. I have a good family that keeps supporting me through, you know, anything, no matter what.

So just having those type of support around me just kind of help me get through a lot of crazy times. Hard times. Just the support that I had around me kind of helped me go through everything.

Q. A couple of your teammates who have been up here have said, "Jonathan has gone through so many different things in four years," challenges, ups, downs, like you mentioned, more than most people, and you still have a long career ahead of you. Have any of those experiences prepared you to get through whatever the next challenge might be?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: They really haven't told me a lot. Like I said, they helped me grow more as a person, as a basketball player. You know, I feel like without those moments, I wouldn't be where I'm at today. You know, sometimes I'm glad they happen. Sometimes you know when I look back, I'm like why did it happen to me. So I just try not to question myself a lot about those moments. I just leave it to God. I go out there and pray. And I think those moments just kind of help me be who I am.

Q. I know you said you're going to let your agent deal with the contract everything and, but is there a part of you that's curious to see how the rest of the league values you?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I mean, my agent and I kind of know. Like he will tell me here and there. I'll just tell him try to figure it out, especially as we get close to whatever got to be done. That's when he comes to me and asks me for my opinions.

But throughout the season, I never thought about things like that. Even right now, I haven't even spoke to him what we going to do or when are we going to figure it out. I just told him to take his time, and I'm going to take my time, too, to figure out what I'm going to do with my day because I'm bored.

So once he hear something or once he figure out something, it's going to come back to me.

Q. Obviously you were absent a long time, you said it's a great season and a successful season for you. How do you define "success" and how do you define "great"?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I would say the best of things that I went through. Like I said, the things that made it great is all the learning, all the moments I shared with my teammates. All the times I was here and learning different things, I think this would define a great season.

Q. Last season your off-season had a lot of travel: Paris, Milan, etc. Do you have any destinations you're going to this summer?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I'm going to try and stay local as much as I can this year. You know, I feel like I have a great -- I want to have a great season, you know, next year. I want to get better as much as I can. Trying to cut all the travelling and all the stuff like that to just stay locked in and work out and get better.

Because you know, I feel like I could do some better next year, better than what I did this year. I'm going to just try to lock in and just try to get better.

Q. Gym rat summer?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: Yeah.

Q. Also as far as your agent negotiating things and numbers, letting him handle that, is your communication style also just texting Steve and Mike a little bit to say, hey, how you doing? Do you want a little bit of that communication, too?

JONATHAN KUMINGA: I mean, for sure. I'm not going nowhere. I'm still here. I love to keep those type of relationship, you know. Make it with them throughout the summer and see what the thinking or how the vibe is, you know.