If Milwaukee had been willing to make a deal at last month’s trade deadline, the Warriors likely would’ve given up several of their future first-round picks – and swaps – to acquire star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, speaking to Tim Kawakami on his TK Show podcast (Spotify link) on Tuesday, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. pointed to the health issues currently afflicting his top players as an example of why surrendering significant future draft capital carries significant risk.
“I think going back to the Jimmy (Butler) trade last year, that’s why we loved the trade so much, because we’re getting a great player and we’re only giving up that year’s pick. There’s nothing out in the future,” Dunleavy said, according to Kawakami. “…I think we’re always being disciplined about using those picks, considering them in trades, things like that. But when you’re put in a situation like this, where your best players are out and you’re struggling to win games, I think you appreciate having that draft capital moving forward.”
In addition to missing Butler (torn ACL) and Kristaps Porzingis (illness), the Warriors are currently playing without their top scorer, Stephen Curry, who has been out since January 30 due to a knee issue. Asked by Kawakami if there’s any possibility that Curry gets shut down for the rest of the season, Dunleavy didn’t rule it out, but said it would be “very surprising” if that happens.
“I’m not a doctor and things can go a certain way,” he said. “I don’t want the headline to be, ‘Steph may be done for the year’ because I’m not ruling it out. But just because he’s not playing right now, I just have to acknowledge that, ‘Yeah, sure, there’s a chance.’ But we don’t expect that.”
Here are a few more of Dunleavy’s most notable quotes from his appearance on The TK Show:
On whether he expects Steve Kerr to be the Warriors’ head coach in 2026/27:
“I don’t see why not. I think Steve’s mentioned wanting to get to the end of the season and figure it out. I think things, for him, are going well. We’ll figure all that out when it comes. I think it’s been interesting, like the focus for us internally between myself, (team owner) Joe (Lacob), the players, Steve, has really been on like getting this thing right the rest of the season. So we haven’t put a whole bunch of thought into it.
“But you know, obviously, on a personal level, (I) love having Steve here. Yeah, I would project that he’s our coach next year. But again, we’re going down to absolute certainties, and a lot of it’s in his court, so we’ll have to see.”
On whether the Warriors seriously considered hanging onto Jonathan Kuminga through last month’s trade deadline:
“I think you guys know, it’s been put out there about (Kuminga’s) trade demand, and I think any time a player wants that, I want to try to accommodate. You want people who want to be here. And for that reason, we felt it was the right time to move on. I think JK’s happy about it, I think we’re in the right spot for it, it was just kind of the right thing to do at the time.”
On whether he’s satisfied with the information-gathering process that led to the Warriors acquiring Porzingis (who has been limited to a single outing since the trade due to health issues):
“That’s a great question, it’s a fair question. I think it’s really, really complicated. This is a unique situation. I’d say from our end, I feel good about, from the information we had, I feel good about our evaluation of what that was on the medical side. And for that reason, that’s why we made the trade.”
Lol you crapped the bed, don’t blame Kuminga now like he just didn’t want to be a warrior all along. Got zero value from that asset and that’s on your organization. You were not backed into a corner, you painted yourself into that scenario
What gives you the inclination that JK wanted to be on the Warriors? He gave no effort when he returned from his first injury this season. The writing was on the wall. He’s not getting any more or less time or usage in his 3 games with Atlanta than he did with his entire career with the Warriors. Stop with this nonsense, clearly you don’t watch the games
Think the point that was being made here is that the Warriors spent 4 years showing that they didn’t want JK to be a Warrior. At least not the version of JK that he thought himself to be.
Looks pretty good so far in Atlanta. Not sure what you’re referring to there.
They absolutely did not do that. JK had a role to fill that he struggled in. Particularly in the half court and particularly if the offense didn’t revolve around him. He struggled to keep in front of his man on defense and would hold the ball in a motion offense. Kerr did what he could when Steph and Jimmy weren’t on the court to adapt the offense to JK’s game and he’d score some. Most of his points in Atlanta are in transition. 3 games! Two against a gleague wizards team and 1 against a sinking Portland team. Please. I watched this kid play for 4 and half season every game. He struggled in his role. He had hall of famers to learn from. He improved so little in that span and it had nothing to do with playing time.
Seriously? The whole reason Draymond was playing the 5 was to accommodate Kuminga. They kept changing the lineups with not a whole lot to show for it.
I definitely watch games. What non effort are you referring to? The high efficiency 20 something he dropped as soon as Kerr needed playing time from him post Butler injury despite 16 DNPs immediately before? Not sure how you think being given significant minutes in all 3 straight games he’s played with the Hawks amounts to “him not getting any more time” than 16 DNPs lol.
Not a single vet in the warriors locker room badmouthed Kuminga on his way out the door. You don’t think vocal Draymond would’ve called him out?
Or you believe that Kuminga was drafted to the warriors and never wanted to be there from draft day, totally negating anything that occured in his entire tenure there?
Stop with this nonsense, you clearly reject anything but a pro employer narrative despite all indications to the opposite. You can bootlick all you want, but don’t try to convince rational people they’re nonsense all the while
You definitely do not watch games. It is extremely clear if you’re only considering this season and not the other four seasons that JK played on the Warriors, the man struggled in his role! If you watched you would have seen. He could not stay in front of his man on defense, he struggled to finish at the rim, he is a poor three-point shooter who is doing well in a small three game sample size. He struggled with his handles, often losing the ball off his foot. I wish JK well, but this is absurd especially coming from knuckleheads that feed into mainstream media and think they know what they’re talking about. I never said anything about badmouth and Kuminga, I never said he was a bad teammate, he struggled in his role. Look at Gui Santos. He’s doing everything Kuminga should have and could have been doing.
Kuminga was upset from the jump when he wasn’t getting playing time. He dogged it when they sent him to the gleague for minutes and in his second year was pissed about not being in the rotation. As was every casual warriors fan, saying Kerr doesn’t play young guys and rookies and instead played lamb and Jerome.
Talk about bootlicking, pure hate with no actual substance backing up your point, or lack thereof. Clearly just hating to hate
It appears luvhoops may be right. If my math is correct, JK is averaging 26 min and 20 pts a game with a +/- of +19.7 in the three games he played for ATL (all victories, btw). Once they extended him, they should have showcased him prior to the deadline, and gave him 25/30 min a game, especially considering the history between them. I wish Miami would have traded for him, we could have used that athleticism for the low low price.
100.
– it’s not as if he’d have put them under their current .500-ish level, and there was an excellent chance that his value to the rest of the league would have increased substantially if he’d been given even 20 min/gm consistently.
NBA teams have watching Kuminga for close to 6 years now. What more needs to be showcased?
Once you’ve embarrassed JK by telling him that his family is taking too much food from the family room. There is no reason to believe he would give you maximum effort. Warriors were great under Bob Myers and terrible ever since.
😂 the food in the family room was a hilarious point. I know my job lets me take as much pizza as I want from the pizza parties they schedule instead of meaningful change.
This again lols. Absolutely delusional and it’s done. Giannis will never be a warrior.
You still hung up on the Giannis thing. Time to move on.
PLEASE! Kuminga mostly stunk with GS given the opportunity. Very inconsistent. Not good for someone who thought he was a future star. Wow, he has excelled with Atl in 2 games vs the lowly wizards. And 1 versus slightly better blazers. Anyone who has watched EVERY Warriors game that thinks Jk was important to keep ? Really?? Sure, it would be nice to see kp playing but theycouldve gotten a bag of balls in the trade. And players like Moody, Santos, Podz have shown out with the JK drama gone. The Butler loss and the Steph injury make the complaining about KP absence moot. But, we’ll continue to hear the Kuminga lament I’m sure.
You lost the assets you traded for Jimmy. You lost the value on Kuminga playing Jimmy over him. You won nothing as a result of the trade, and you have the exact same number of championships (zero) and the same regular season record now as you would having never traded for Butler in the first place.
Absolute Masterpiece.
What even is your point here? Warriors were in .500 purgatory WITH Steph and they got Jimmy and became one of top teams the second half. If Steph doesn’t strain a hammy, they beat Minny and they’re in the conference finals. So better to live out purgatory, let JK play and make mistakes and suffer losses while Steph Curry continues to play some of his best basketball, right? Not go for a championship caliber all-star that essentially does everything you idealists think JK will be doing? Give me a break with this already