Green s innuendo? Kuminga was demoted to the bench and forced to retire due to injury. Conflicts in the Warriors locker room intensified

The cooperation between the Golden State Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga has been in trouble this summer. Kuminga made it clear that he no longer wants to stay with the Warriors, but there has been no interest in the trade market and free agency market. Finally, 11 hours before the deadline to accept a qualifying offer, he accepted a two-year contract worth a total of $48.5 million from the Warriors (the second year was a team option). Although Kuminga claimed after signing the contract that he would not take the past unpleasantness with the Warriors to heart and would become a professional, the latest comments from Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler seemed to show that they still feel different. Although they did not name any teammates, fans thought they were bashing Kuminga.

Green said in a recent interview: "I think everyone should be committed to winning and trying to do that as much as possible, but that's not how I feel now. I think in this league, everyone has their own personal pursuits and interests, but you have to let the individual pursuits work within the framework of the team If it doesn't work, you have to put your personal pursuits and interests first."

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr's solution after the Warriors' previous loss to the Thunder was to return Kuminga to the bench, and this decision indicates that they may have decided to give up on him. Kerr reshuffled the starting lineup in the Warriors' game against the Spurs, letting Moses Moody and rookie Will Richard enter the starting lineup to partner with the Warriors' three veterans.

And all this happened after Butler and Green talked about making sacrifices and personal pursuits. It seems to be no coincidence that Kerr chose to demote Kuminga back to the second team. Cole has always been strict with this talented forward. After seeing that Kuminga made almost no effort on the defensive end, he immediately chose to replace him with Richard, the 56th overall pick in this year's second round.

Kuminga only played 12 minutes in this game before he left the game due to a knee injury. He only took one shot in the game and failed to hit. He did not return to the court throughout the second half. As a result, the Warriors hit an offensive climax in the third quarter, scoring 43 points in a single quarter, of which Curry scored 22 points, helping the Warriors reverse their decline and ultimately defeated the Spurs 125-120.

Kuminga has been in the spotlight many times since the Warriors selected him with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2021 NBA Draft. The timing of this injury seems odd to say the least, being the type of injury that typically occurs before a game rather than after a quarter. Due to NBA official rule restrictions, the Warriors are not eligible to trade him until January 15 next year, and he seems to have caused a lot of trouble for the Warriors so far. The Warriors may not even ask for much in return before sending him away.