Steve Kerr has opened up about the very tricky situation he, the Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga find themselves in.
Kuminga’s name has been part of ongoing trade rumors for months, and Kerr has likened it to what forward Andrew Wiggins endured before he was sent to the Heat at last season’s trade deadline as part of the deal that brought Jimmy Butler to The Bay.
“Everybody wants honesty,” Kerr said on the Tom Tolbert Show. “They don’t want to be pandered to. They want to know what’s what, but you have to deliver those messages with some empathy. It’s a tough spot to be in. He’s got two little girls at home, and he’s been here five years. And Andrew Wiggins was in this exact boat a year ago, and Wigs actually was about to have his third child right at the trade deadline, and his name was floating out there, and we kind of go through this every year, but there’s always like a player or two who become the focal point of the trade deadline.”
Kerr is cognisent of how his players will feel as the February 5 trade deadline inches closer, but tries to remind them it’s all part of the business of the NBA.
“I always just try to talk to the guys about the business and this is how it works and how few players in NBA history played for one franchise and it’s all part of the deal that you sign up for but it doesn’t make it any easier when you feel like you’re being shipped off and you got to pack up your family and go,” Kerr said. “It’s hard, and I just think it’s important to acknowledge that to the players and try to understand that part of the business.”
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