With the Warriors off to an up-and-down start and sitting over .500 by a single game, there’s a growing expectation “in various corners of the league” that forward Jonathan Kuminga will be on the move prior to the February 5 trade deadline, Marc Stein writes for his Substack (subscription required).
While a veteran executive who spoke to Stein referred to Kuminga’s two-year, $46.8MM contract (which includes a second-year team option) as “one of the best trade chips in the league,” sources who talked to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps about Kuminga aren’t convinced that Golden State will be able to find a trade partner that covets the 23-year-old and is willing to send the Warriors the sort of value they’ll be seeking for the former No. 7 overall pick.
“Who is going to take him?” one Eastern Conference scout said. “And are they going to move him for stuff they don’t want, or just wait? It’s very hard to find a trade that makes sense for everyone.”
That same scout suggested that Kuminga, who is currently sidelined due to knee soreness, hasn’t done a whole lot so far this season to boost his trade value.
“He is who he is, even though he’s on the younger side,” the scout said. “He has looked better, and has been trying to fit in, but he still falls back into his old habits.”
We have more from around the Pacific Division:
- A pair of Los Angeles Dodgers executives – Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman – are serving as advisors with the Lakers during the transition from the Buss family to new owner Mark Walter, sources tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. As Shelburne explains, Zaidi and Friedman are functioning as senior executives with TWG Sports, the entity Walter created to oversee his sports holdings. Zaidi has been Walter’s representative during the transition process, according to Shelburne, while Friedman has consulted with general manager Rob Pelinka.
- Back with the Suns after signing a one-year, minimum-salary contract over the summer, point guard Collin Gillespie is enjoying his expanded role in Phoenix. Gillespie, one of the team’s top reserves, is averaging 10.5 points and 5.1 assists in 24.3 minutes per game off the bench as he makes a case to stick with the Suns beyond this season. “I would like to be here long-term,” he said (Twitter video link via Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). “It’s 15 games into the season. There’s a ton of time. I’m not even worried about that or focused on that right now. Just play the year out. Hopefully have a really good year. Win a lot of games and then focus on it after the season, but I would like to be here long-term.”
- Law Murray of The Athletic takes a look at some of the issues plaguing the 4-11 Clippers, including an inability to keep up with faster-paced offenses, poor point-of-attack defense, losing the rebounding and possession battles, and – in the words of head coach Tyronn Lue – a lack of “point-of-attack offensive guys that can create their own shots.”
Draymond, Buddy, Kuminga and 5 FRP for Giannis and Cole Anthony. Do it.
Not enough!
for one year of giannis…who is offering more?
Love how I have people arguing “too much” AND “not enough” lmao
Dumbest trade ever. Giannis walks after next season and the Warriors are out 5 1sts. Curry will look at the s***show and call it a career. Riley will see the playoffs before the Warriors do.
You wish.
Aprils still a few months away
Lol.
GSW only has 3.67 1st rders to trade
The 0.67 is the 2030 pick that Wiz has 20-30 on
You gotta have this info on hand as a GSW fan
Wrong
You also cannot have .67 of a pick. Nonsense take.
GSW has FRP in 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2031, and 2032
Can’t trade b2b FRPs so some of them can only be pick swaps
Then wrap in other teams to the deal, I have always said any trade of Giannis will likely be a multi-team deal.
Do you honestly think I don’t know this stuff? Cmon.
This is first day of class stuff
This website dues a great job explaining the ins and outs
Give him a break, he’s new here.
Do you honestly think I don’t know this?
Any trade proposal I post on here can be modded by adding more teams to the mix, I have posted this many times any time I post a trade idea. You apparently love to make up stuff that isn’t true.
I cant stand people who “no” instead of “yes, and” – be the latter, not the former. If you don’t like the trade, then “yes, and” and fix it up. Be more positive and this place will be more positive towards you. I do respect your knowledge, you are just being a jerk for some reason. Knock it off.
“I cant stand people who “no” instead of “yes, and” – be the latter, not the former. If you don’t like the trade, then “yes, and” and fix it up. Be more positive and this place will be more positive towards you. I do respect your knowledge, you are just being a jerk for some reason. Knock it off.”
I skipped to the end of this thread, so I’m not taking a position here at all, but I universally agree with this statement, 100%.
Falls into old habits… says it all. They should try and get a vet wing and low first rounder back. I mean they should try and get more but I’d be surprised if they did much better than that.
Still he’s pretty young. I’d be curious after he gets traded if the team that the scout belongs to traded for him LOL
More than a 50/50 chance Warriors move Kuminga. By Jan 15th teams rebuilding or with a young core would be more lijkely to trade for him.
Arc, it’s 100% chance they move him.
They’ve been trying to deal him for two years, but it’s been tough with his salary and then the poison pill thing, plus the Warriors high asking price.
Does anyone read the first couple of paragraphs of this article?
He can’t play.
He’s not good enough.
He thinks he is, and so he believes he hasn’t had to work on his game, but he’s not.
Moses Moody‘s not good enough either but at least he’s worked on his game and has become a very good shooter. JK not so much.
Jimmy and Dray believe in JK.
In fact if it’s anyone not getting it done this season and who should be coming off of the bench it is Dray: 8/6/6 3+ turnovers, and 4 fouls per game…
Jimmy and Greymond are doing the absolute right thing.., Encouraging their teammate. Whoever that is.., one for all and all for one. That’s basketball.
But it’s also basketball to try to improve your roster and get rid of guys who were a mistake to draft. Let’s plug-in guys who can play? I think this trade deadline will be huge.
Its the same old problem for the warriors not enough big players. They need to trade for a big rebounding rim protector. Buddy heild need to be on the bench more if he can’t shoot the ball he is wothless since his defense is below par.
The biggest problem: Kuminga is on a championship caliber team, but is clearly not able to help get them there. So who is going to pay what GSW wants to get a guy that can’t get a championship caliber team to a championship? GSW is going to have to settle for what they get.
Yes King, and we’ll throw in Moses Moody too.
Gary, the end of the Warriors promo ads shown during the Blazers game featured Steph, Jimmy and Al Horford all posing, typical of most promo ads.
No Kuminga, no Dray. They are goners. For Giannis? Maybe.
Clippers really are in a terrible spot.
Gave up their picks for PG and Kawhi.
Still no success on the court years later and Kawhi and Harden both have 2 years left on their deals and don’t see a future for them there being old and not winning. Your next best player Zubac is on an expiring deal.
The one good thing is there isn’t any long term expensive contracts but it’s hard to rebuild without picks.
They need to be active heading into the deadline cause they aren’t competitive and don’t have picks.
Some ideas:
1. Zubac for Wendell Carter Jr, Anthony Black and Jett Howard.
Magic go all in after Bane trade. Starting 5 of Suggs Bane Franz Paolo and Zu would be one of the best in the league and for depth Jones, Richardson, Da Silva, Issacs, Goga and Mo Wagner plus open roster spots.
Clippers get three younger guys, Black would pair nicely with Harden in the backcourt and a front court of Carter and Collins would atleast be quicker and more agile. Howard offers a nice young shooter and you still would have dependable vets like CP3 DJJ Batum and BLopez.
2. Zubac and Bogandovic for Kuminga, Heild and TJD
Warriors add their much needed centre that provides an interior presence, help them get more rebounds and give them another chance at a title run. Clippers get Kuminga who they can try develop as their focal point of the rebuild for now. TJD is a skilled young big and Heild provides a nice role player you can probably still get good value from.
3. Kawhi Leonard and Kris Dunn/Brook Lopez for Ja Morant, GG Jackson and Brandon Clarke
This one is full rebuild and you’re starting off with a young star in Ja, and also hoping to develop GG. For Memphis they’d have to really be over Ja but in terms of returns this would be right up there. They have point guards to cover Ja leaving Dunn, Vinny Williams, Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippen Jr. Kawhi JJJ Dunn KCP Edey Coward Wells etc they’d be very very good defensively. The depth would also be really strong and honestly would surprise a bunch of people how good they are but of-course availability and injuries would be their major weakness.
Say Kawhi went back to god mode and won with this team he’d honestly have a case for top 10 lowkey
Brook Lopez >>>>> to Warriors
Buddy Hield >>>>>> to Clippers
Then you move Kuminga for playmakers, vall handlers.
I have never understood what people see in Kuminga. I’ve watched him play a hundred times, I can maybe think of one or two games where he looked like a stud. He’s athletic, sure, but he’s too small to be a 4 and he f he can’t shoot then he can’t be a 3. Ergo, useless.
He’s really inconsistent but when he’s on and feeling it, he does look pretty amazing. It’s just weird that he goes through stretches where he looks lethargic and then other times where he’s just hustling and making all the right plays.
Perfect assessment and some of us have been saying it for three years.
There’s others here that don’t see it or don’t want to listen and their mind is closed.
But like you, I’m not sure what they’re seeing out there. Some even say he’s the next Kawhi Leonard !!!!!
Read his scouting report before the draft. Big time athlete with size. Potential 2way stud.
Positional size always makes teams drool lol.
link to nba.com
link to nbadraft.net
So at this point in the NBA season, Lakers > Warriors!?
Sure thing buddy, it’s November, and yes, the Lakers are always better in November, that is always true, becauseeeee….the Lakers get the weakest scheduling every single year! Also, how many rings have the Lakers won since 2015? November means nothing at all! As a fan of a so-called champion team, shouldn’t you know this already?
You know the Warriors have just had the most insanely abusive scheduling in the history of the league, and are missing a key player, the primary backup non-Steph PG in Melton, right? They wrecked the league when Melton was healthy. Hmm I wonder what will happen when he comes back? Podz and Spencer have been absolutely terrible, Melton is better than both of them combined. Hmm…care to speculate what might happen?
Didn’t Melton only play like 6 games before he was out for the season? Not much wrecking lol
Yeah but they cooked with him, he’s “the missing piece”. We all saw it. He’s long been a high ceiling guy. Its not great that he is made of glass, but still.
Absolutely the Lakers are better than the Warriors. Without a doubt.
By VORP the Warriors have 3 players who would be the 3rd best player on the Lakers, in addition to Curry and Jimmy being #1 or #2. What are we doing here? Reaves and Luka are great, but the Lakers can’t sniff GSW.
Ayton — 30 mins, .70% FG, 9 rebounds, 16.5 pts.
Plus he is one of their best defenders. And when you are the Center thats Huge. That’s the main reason so far. Excellent pickup.
Not really, Al.
link to basketball-reference.com
Off +/- he had a great game against the worst team in the league. Then 4 other really solid games, but also 6 bad ones. His VORP is 0.0. I wouldn’t say that’s “excellent”.
Again he is one of their best defenders, the Lakers. Thats only stat that matters. And when you play the center position and do that. It makes your team defense better. Lakers are 13th in points allowed. But it’s about making stops and winning. They are doing that this year. All this without Bron.
I wouldn’t call Ayton a great defender but a big body that can rebound. Its what missing on the warriors a big defender that can rebound. Kerr is going to waste this season again if he keeps playing small ball.
I am watching the Warriors broadcast of the Blazers game and there was a Warriors ad and the three featured players at the end were Steph, Jimmy and…Al Horford? No Dray, Buddy or Kuminga? HM
Summarising the notes above:
1) The NBA is conspiring against the W’s via scheduling (the NBA favors the Lakers)…
2) Giannis is soon being traded to the W’s
😂😂😂
Sounds like you change it to fit your opinion.
1. Warriors got screwed by having the toughest schedule of all the NBA teams.
2. Giannis is only coming to warriors in 1 person’s dream.
Giannis to GSW is many peoples dream, arc89. Why isn’t it yours?
I need you to stop acting like I am the one who started the Giannis to GSW rumor, that actual pro journalists have written about. This isn’t some made up thing by me, there’s literally hundreds of pieces of media out there about it. Stop pinning it on me.
It works on paper, so why not?
The problem with it is the warriors are going all in and destroying the rebuilding process they are getting very close needing to do. If they don’t win a championship with Giannis its just a waste. Warriors already have too many high priced old players. Bucks are not even thinking of trading Giannis. Look how the wanted Brunson in a Giannis trade. Maybe they will want Curry. That would nullify any advantage of a trade.
“If they don’t win a championship with Giannis its just a waste.”
and what has every season since 2023 been?