Where does Jonathan Kuminga fit in Warriors’ plans after Jimmy Butler injury?

SAN FRANCISCO — The seemingly endless Jonathan Kuminga saga has taken yet another turn.

When Kuminga removed his sweats, walked to the scorer’s table and checked in to begin the second quarter Tuesday night, a murmur grew into a modest standing ovation as the fans inside Chase Center realized what was happening. It turned into a furor by the end of his first playing time in nearly a month.

“JK’s going to factor in here again,” coach Steve Kerr said afterward.

In the Warriors’ first game since losing Jimmy Butler to a season-ending knee injury, Kerr rotated through 11 players and waited until the second quarter to call on Kuminga for the first time since Dec. 18. He played so well that Kerr left him out there for 21 minutes.

Leading the second unit, Kuminga scored 20 points, grabbed five rebounds and led the charge that cut a deficit that grew as large as 30 points down to single digits in an eventual 145-127 loss to the Toronto Raptors. He converted back-to-back three-point plays that Buddy Hield said “settled us in.”

The performance came less than a week after Kuminga requested to be traded on the day he became eligible. After a prolonged and public contract negotiation over the summer, Kuminga began the season in the starting lineup but had fallen out of the rotation entirely as the Warriors began to play their best basketball, going 12-4 in 16 games since his last appearance, a brief, 9:31 stint in a loss at Phoenix.

Without Butler, Kerr acknowledged, “obviously there’s a hole at that spot in our roster.” In the immediate aftermath of Butler’s injury, Kerr only spoke of the possibility of Kuminga filling that hole in coulds and cans. He spoke in definitive terms after his showing Tuesday night.

“He was great. He came in and had great energy, attacked the rim, made some shots. I thought JK was really good,” Kerr said. “Really pleased with the way he stayed ready, and stayed prepared, and got his opportunity. (He) played really well.”

There was a distinct change in tone from only hours earlier, when Kerr danced around questions regarding Kuminga’s role without Butler and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. went so far as to take a not-so-subtle jab at his trade request. (“When you make a demand, there needs to be a demand on the market,” he said.)

Kerr and Dunleavy were asked before the game whether they believed Kuminga still desired to play for Golden State. He appeared to provide an answer on the court. For his part, Kuminga let his game — and his agent — do the talking. He declined reporters’ interview requests while making a beeline out of the locker room.

His agent, Aaron Turner, appeared to shoot back at Dunleavy in a social media post, writing on X, “Demand is sensitive to price or playing time, So if a seller sees demand is low, lower the price point or let him play and demand will go (up).”

Kuminga’s teammates, meanwhile, have been consistent in their support for him throughout the saga.

According to Moses Moody, that’s because the performance Tuesday night was a product of the player they see behind the scenes.

“I think it would be a lot tougher for him to do it if he didn’t handle it so well,” said Moody, who was taken seven picks after Kuminga in the 2021 draft. “When you’re coming in every day with the right attitude, the right energy, fun to be around, then when you’re on the court you don’t have to change anything. But if you pout, and you’re upset, got bad energy, now you’re playing and you’re supposed to have good energy … that’s when it gets confusing.”

Draymond Green agreed.

“He’s been incredible and that is proven by the game he had,” Green said. “If you’ve been a nuisance, that game doesn’t happen for you.”

It remains to be seen whether the Warriors honor Kuminga’s request by the Feb. 5 trade deadline, or whether the demand still stands, but one thing is certain: the organization is in a far different position than it was before Butler’s right knee crumpled under him in the third quarter Monday night.

While Dunleavy said “nothing is imminent” regarding a Kuminga trade, “things in this league can change in a heart beat.” He also didn’t rule out packaging the Warriors’ future draft picks in a trade or taking on salary beyond 2027, when Butler, Steph Curry and Draymond Green’s contracts expire.

“I felt pretty good with where we’re at heading into (Monday’s) game in terms of what we need to do. I thought our team was playing really well, heading in the right direction. Obviously things have changed,” Dunleavy said. “For us, you know, this injury, better now than two weeks from now or three weeks from now. It gives us a little bit of opportunity to assess and see if there’s something we can do to help us out. But, yeah, all in all, not great.”