Warriors enter tough stretch of season, but open against weary Pacers

De'Anthony Melton reportedly ramping up, will join team practice soon(ish)

The Golden State Warriors are on the road today in Indiana, where they’ll face what remains of last season’s playoff-worthy Pacers roster. While far from unique to Golden State, the month of November features a heavy travel schedule, and a whole bunch of city hopping. The Warriors are one of (maybe the) oldest teams in the NBA but there’s no age where a month like this wouldn’t wear a body down.

Bill Simmons started a cascade of media coverage when he mentioned this upcoming slog in his podcast this week;

I think there’s a real chance that Adam Silver hates Golden State because I can’t think of any other explanation when I look at the schedule. Seventeen days, they have ten games and they’re all basically in different locations.

Rest assured coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors’ training staff are well aware of what’s headed the team’s way and will prioritize rest and limits on minutes for the vets wherever feasible. Picking up an easy win (or at least one that allows Kerr to reach deeply and frequently into the bench) would be just what the doctor ordered - and today’s game is probably the “easiest” upcoming chance to do so.

On the bright side, the Warriors released a minor update on De’Anthony Melton, a well-rounded player who the team is definitely looking forward to having back - I mean, his nickname is “Mr. Do Something” because he contributes constantly in so many ways. He’s begun to “[intensify] his individual and small group on-court workouts” and will be joining team practice (plus some work with the development team in Santa Cruz) over the next couple of weeks. The team promises another update right before Thanksgiving. This is great news, and seems very much within the expected timeline - where the team has very wisely and cagily framed this situation as Melton being expected to miss “the early part” of the season.

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GAME DETAILS

WHO: Golden State Warriors (4-1) at Indiana Pacers (0-5)

WHEN: Saturday, November 1st, 2025; 4PM PDT

WATCH: NBCSBA

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Trust - like respect - is earned, not given

For a team built on continuity and championship habits, that trust doesn’t come cheaply. It’s the invisible thread that ties together a veteran group still chasing titles and a new wave of talent trying to prove they belong. Each possession, each rotation, each subtle adjustment in Kerr’s system either strengthens that bond or frays it just a little. And for Jonathan Kuminga, every minute on the floor right now feels like both a reward and a test.

Five games into the season, and the Warriors really like what they are seeing from Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. Sure, this isn’t a deep enough pool of water to dive into head first, but in the ten days or so since their season started, the Warriors happily find themselves wading around in a quandary: what exactly can Kuminga be for this team?

His minutes are up to near 30 per game on average - a career-high, and marked improvement over his average of around 24 last season. That may not seem like a huge leap, but those six extra minutes are a bench player’s rotation. A lot can happen in six minutes of on-court time. Importantly, this isn’t any sort of free handout. Kerr and the Warriors’ veteran core are (of course) rooting for Kuminga to succeed, but no one within the organization is going to go out of their way to throw minutes at a player for no reason.

Kuminga (and yes, small sample size warning here) is averaging career highs in: points per game, three-point percentage, overall field goal percentage, free throw percentage, rebounds, and assists.

Kuminga’s hot start, in tabular form. via Basketball Reference.

These initial five games have gone about as well as possible for Kuminga and the Warriors - a nice start just in time to position them for an upcoming pressure test over the next few weeks. The Warriors are going to need some luck. Both of their losses have come outside the state of California, and with the long road trip, and some delicate old knees on the roster, it’s no secret that the Warriors are hoping that Kuminga’s hot start to the season is something that they can turn into a habit.

It could have gone down much differently. I promise to stop writing about the off-season contract stalemate at some point but this is just too riveting of a pivot to ignore. Just over a month ago, Kuminga’s agent was making the media rounds, talking about all sorts of nuclear options and doing his damnedest to get his client sent somewhere else - anywhere else. Why? Well, like a lot of young, talented players, Kuminga (and his agent, who will get a chunk of any contract signed) wants a bigger role. More responsibility, more ways to be featured which of course comes with more chances to score. And as the saying goes, “points get paid.” This isn’t money or role though, it was reportedly about both.

And in the words of his agent, hardly a month ago, the young wing wasn’t really on the fence about any of this either. Remember, this is his agent talking, not him, but look at the conviction in these statements:

“The way JK moves is he wants to keep pushing the envelope, and I’m not going to take that away from him. I actually agree with it. Can he be the player he wants to be here, right now, with this roster composition? No. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to win and he’s not willing to sacrifice for the group.”

The intervening weeks have been wild. I had to look that quote up to find it, and the article coverage surrounding the quotes paint a very different picture than the one hanging on the walls now.

How high are the Warriors willing to go for someone slotted to come off the bench as a sixth or seventh man?

Kuminga is penciled in as the fourth starter at this point, maybe even more than pencil, as long as the current state remains viable. The miscalculation here is clear on both sides of the equation. Obviously, the Warriors wouldn’t go high at all for someone described as a “sixth or seventh” man. Nor would Kuminga be content to watch from the bench as Kerr and the Warriors continue their hunt for someone able to soak up minutes on the wing reliably. But this is why they teach logical fallacies in rhetoric class: what we have here is a classic case of a false dichotomy.

In framing an argument as a choice between only two extremes, and ignoring all options in the middle, this entire premise is what was behind the contract renewal stalemate all Summer. Because the reality is that there wasn’t a path for this to work out favorably without some sort of change of state. Kuminga didn’t want to be a bench player forever, but the Warriors weren’t ready to extend their faith too far without some additional evidence. The opening of the season has served as that additional evidence; but this building of trust was a two-way street.

I’m not sure what was really at the heart of the decision in last year’s playoffs that led to Kuminga racking up DNP-coaches decision as the season wound to a sad and anemic close. Not even 5 minutes for Kuminga? Just to see if he could help? To refresh everyone’s memory: Kuminga played a fairly large role for the team last season, averaging around 16 points per game, and generally looking good prior to getting derailed by an ankle injury which led to an extended absence. He came back to a changed team. After the Jimmy Butler trade, the Warriors looked and felt different, and even when Kuminga returned to health, something was wrong. He couldn’t crack the rotation.

As reported by insider, and general curmudgeon, Tim Kawakami in April:

“This is not like a per-series calculation. This is, ‘He is out of the rotation unless things change dramatically.”

Ouch, bro. Harsh.

So Kuminga sat on the bench. Zero minutes per night. He got no minutes in the final closing stretch of the season multiple times, culminating in another DNP in game 1, against the Houston Rockets - a team that (on paper) certainly appeared to be the sort of opponent where you’d want Kuminga. The fact that he ended the previous season on the bench watching the Warriors get bumped out by the Sacramento Kings only cemented this dynamic.

The Warriors beat that Rocket team, and advanced to the second round, when Curry got hurt, locking up his hamstring against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Combined with Butler’s bad fall impacting his mobility, Kerr and the Warriors ran out of options, and finally gave Kuminga a chance on the playoff stage. He looked great. Scored a playoff career-high of 30 points, and apparently sauntered off into the off-season with nothing but “get me the hell out of here!” on his mind.

So what exactly changed?

Here’s another look at the statistics (with apologies for the raw formatting here); check out Kuminga’s stats per 100 possessions:

Pay particular attention to the two columns furthest to the right; rebounds and assists. Kuminga’s physical gifts make him hard to stay in front of on defense, but Kerr and the Warriors have been looking for more.

They need Kuminga to be that dynamic athlete, yes; but he’s also expected to generally do more stuff that helps the team win. Significant leaps in the rate statistics in both rebounding and assists are exactly the sort of holistic improvements that earn more playing time - especially in Kerr’s system.

Steve Kerr calls Kuminga an entrenched starter: “Yes. He’ll start tonight and he will be our starter going forward. He’s been fantastic. Last night, put him on Ja. Tonight we will put him on James Harden. I think he’s ready.”

And here’s another quote - this one from a few days ago. Again, look at the themes here that Kerr is referencing. The most important changes to Kuminga’s game are the nuanced ways that he’s improved. This really is like Darwin’s famous and often misunderstood quote about survival of the fittest; you see, not fit like going to the gym, but fit like a puzzle piece. Kuminga has improved his game in ways that the team cares the most about

“His passing has improved dramatically. He has made so many good passes, not only in games but also in practices,” Kerr said about Kuminga. “I think he’s seeing the floor better. I just like the approach, I like the vibe that he’s bringing. He’s confident. He definitely feels like part of the team and what we’re trying to do.”

What’s happening now is significant. It’s not just that Kuminga has cemented his role as a starter and played his way into earning praise from the coach; it’s what this outcome does to the team dynamic.

The Warriors’ core of vets are good at basketball, but they’ve also got some of the sharpest basketball minds the world has ever seen. The veterans know that a strong season from Kuminga isn’t optional this time around, it’s mandatory. Jimmy Butler isn’t exactly known for mindlessly talking up his teammates, so rest assured that this praise has been earned.

“He’s key in what we’re trying to do this season on both sides of the ball,” Butler said after their win against the Clippers. “I love it when he’s guarding at a high level…He’s been playing off the charts…Keep taking that challenge on the defensive end. We as a whole need him to do just that.”

The Warriors have stories like this unfolding all across the roster. It isn’t the focus of this particular article, but players like Moody, Podz, Quintin Post, and others all figure to play no small part in the season. There’s a few moving components to all this: the long season, the age of the core, the need to begin developing a viable “what comes next” plan with Green, Curry, and Butler all playing out the tail ends of their illustrious careers. But this is far from a rebuild. Kerr, Curry, and the rest aren’t going to hand the keys over to just anyone.

Kuminga is going to be harder and harder to ignore in these conversations if he continues to have the same impact he’s had over the first few weeks of the season. It’s far too early to think about things like next contract windows, or whether or not Kuminga might end up in the running for most improved player; but it’s never to early to start building trust.

In this, Kuminga and the Warriors are tightly aligned. Solid play starts everything. That’s how trust is built, that’s how new or deeper opportunities arise. And that’s where Kuminga and the Warriors are, building things. Trust.

In a sense, that’s been Golden State’s story all along - evolving, recalibrating, finding new ways to keep the window open just a little longer. This isn’t just about one player finding his footing; it’s about a franchise redefining how to stay relevant while refusing to rebuild.

Prediction

The Pacers are in a tough, tough spot; the Warriors shouldn’t just win this game, but win it by a comfortable margin. Tyrese Haliburton is out for the season after that heart-wrenching achilles tear ended the Pacers’ storybook season in the NBA Finals last year. Obi Toppin is out now as well; joining a long, loooong list of supplementary players too.

This is the last bit of breathing room for a while, after today’s game, the Warriors don’t play again till Tuesday, when they host old pal Kevin Durant and the Rockets.

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