Latest On Possible Lakers Sign-And-Trade For Kuminga
July 10: While it’s believed that the Lakers want to package Vanderbilt and a 2032 first-round swap in a sign-and-trade for Kuminga, the Hawks have been resistant to taking back Vanderbilt in that sort of deal, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), contradicting Price’s reporting (outlined below).
According to Fischer, Kuminga is seeking a more lucrative contract than the two-year, $20MM offer the Lakers initially put on the table, and there may be multi-team trade scenarios in play involving Vanderbilt that would allow Los Angeles to increase that offer. If that comes to pass, Vanderbilt would end up with a non-Atlanta team.
If Kuminga does leave the Hawks, it seems like to happen via sign-and-trade, Fischer adds. In that case, the free agent forward would have to receive at least a three-year contract, though only the first season would need to be fully guaranteed.
July 8: The Hawks would have interest in a sign-and-trade sending Jonathan Kuminga to the Lakers in exchange for Jarred Vanderbilt and a first-round pick swap with L.A. in 2032, a source tells Khobi Price of The California Post.
It’s the only way the Lakers can include a first-rounder in the deal after sending two of them, along with two swaps, to Utah in the Walker Kessler trade. L.A. also has three future second-rounders to offer.
The Lakers’ desire to add Kuminga is well known, but they are currently limited to a minimum-salary offer after remaking their roster via a flurry of moves. A sign-and-trade is their most realistic path toward giving Kuminga a larger contract, although he still may get better offers from other teams as an unrestricted free agent.
Reporting earlier in the week indicated that the Lakers were “looking at’ a potential two-year, $20MM offer for Kuminga, and Price confirms they’ve been willing to do an average annual salary in the range of $10MM. A sign-and-trade would require at least a three-year deal, though only the first season would need to be guaranteed.
Vanderbilt has two seasons remaining on the four-year, $48MM extension he signed in 2023. The veteran forward will make $12.4MM next season and holds a $13.3MM player option for 2027/28.
Multiple sources inform Price that the Lakers are willing to part with Vanderbilt and other players in their attempt to upgrade the current roster.
Price cites another source who confirms the Cavaliers‘ interest in Kuminga, who would reunite with head coach Kenny Atkinson, a former Golden State assistant, if he winds up in Cleveland. However, the Cavs’ pursuit of any free agents is on hold as they wait to hear where LeBron James will play next season.
Price notes that the Lakers are searching for wings with “size, athleticism, defense and youth,” adding that it’s not clear who the next target will be if they don’t land Kuminga. He states that they looked into Ziaire Williams after the Nets declined his $6.25MM team option for next season, and mentions Bruce Brown, Matisse Thybulle and Ochai Agbaji as other available free agents.
L.A. has been linked to Mavericks forward P.J. Washington in the past, but Price hears that the team isn’t willing to take on the $88.8MM he’s owed over the next four seasons.
Trade Rumors: DeRozan, Finney-Smith, Sasser, Lakers, Bucks
Kings forward DeMar DeRozan hopes to “accelerate his exit” from Sacramento, according to Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports. Reporting in June indicated that the team expects to either trade or waive DeRozan, and the 17-year veteran would like for that to happen sooner rather than later, Iko explains.
While a trade that clears DeRozan’s full $25.7MM from their books without any incoming salary coming back would presumably be the preferred route for the cap-strapped Kings, very few teams are in position to accommodate that kind of deal. The more likely outcome is that Sacramento will eventually opt to waive DeRozan and use the stretch provision to spread his partial guarantee of $10MM across three seasons ($3.33MM per year).
If the Kings were to waive and stretch him immediately, it would allow DeRozan to reach the open market while a number of playoff teams still have some spending flexibility, potentially resulting in a more favorable deal. However, it appears Sacramento’s front office wants to exhaust its trade options before resorting to that fall-back option. The deadline to waive a player and stretch his 2026/27 cap hit is August 29.
Here are a few more trade rumors and notes from around the NBA:
- Sources who spoke to Iko described the Rockets‘ trade talks involving forward Dorian Finney-Smith as “fluid,” noting that Houston has explored scenarios in which Finney-Smith would be sent out to create cap flexibility and others in which a player would come back in the deal. However, none of those options has been appealing enough to pull the trigger, and Iko notes that the team’s urgency to make a move has lessened due to how free agency has played out — Houston was able to secure commitments from Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanovic without using more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception.
- After reporting earlier in the week that the Mavericks are a “leading suitor” to acquire guard Marcus Sasser from the Pistons, Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link) is talking as if that deal is expected to happen. As Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron points out (via Twitter) there’s a plausible scenario in which the Grizzlies, Pistons, and Mavericks combine their trade agreements involving Isaiah Stewart and Santi Aldama into a single transaction and include Sasser — Detroit’s acquisitions of Isaiah Joe (from the Thunder) and John Collins (via sign-and-trade from the Clippers) would also likely be folded in to make it a five-team trade.
- A number of league sources are wondering if the Lakers are planning to make a trade – or a waive-and-stretch move – involving a player like Jarred Vanderbilt or Deandre Ayton to open up a little more cap room to try to re-sign free agent forward Rui Hachimura, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. At this point, that sounds like speculation rather than anything concrete.
- The Bucks touched base with the Grizzlies about Ja Morant during the 2025/26 season and periodically circled back to discuss him all the way up until this Monday (well after agreeing to move Giannis Antetokounmpo) before ultimately deciding not to pursue a trade, reports Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Memphis agreed to send Morant to Portland instead.
Lakers Notes: Vanderbilt, Reaves, Kennard, Lost Cause
Jarred Vanderbilt is considered questionable for Game 3 of the Lakers’ second-round series against the Thunder today, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin tweets. Vanderbilt suffered a gruesome right finger dislocation during the first half of Game 1 while attempting to block a Chet Holmgren shot.
The veteran forward averaged 3.6 points and 4.4 rebounds in 13.4 minutes per game against Houston during the first round. Vanderbilt was benched during the decisive Game 6 after playing just six minutes in Game 5.
The Lakers used an eight-man rotation until garbage time in Game 2 with Luke Kennard, Jaxson Hayes and Jake LaRavia coming off the bench.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- One positive development in Game 2 was Austin Reaves‘ output. He shot just 3-for-16 from the field in Game 1; in Game 2, Reaves scored 31 points and added six assists. “That’s what we need Austin to be,” Kennard said, per Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the Los Angeles Times. “Even though he missed some shots last game, he was aggressive and he just got back into it. … I know a lot of people can think it’s easy to just come back and play a basketball game but at this level, what he’s done last series and now, it’s impressive. We need him to continue to be aggressive. He’s such a good teammate, easy to play with. It’s good to see him have a really good game and, hopefully gives him confidence going into the next one.”
- Kennard has been playing through neck soreness for several weeks, Khobi Price of the California Post tweets. He was on the injury report for Game 2 but wasn’t listed on Game’s 3 status report. He finished with 10 points in 26 minutes in Game 2.
- Forget about it, the season’s over, Los Angeles Times Bill Plaschke opines. The Thunder dominated the Lakers in the regular season and nothing has changed in the first two games. Without Luka Doncic, they had no chance to pull off a series upset, according to Plaschke, who concludes that Doncic shouldn’t even consider coming back from his hamstring injury at this point, as the series is a lost cause.
Injury Notes: Merrill, Robinson, Embiid, Vanderbilt, Kennard, Huerter
Cavaliers wing Sam Merrill, who exited Tuesday’s game vs. Detroit after playing just seven minutes, has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain after undergoing an MRI on Wednesday, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). Merrill didn’t participate in today’s practice and is listed as questionable for Game 2, though given his diagnosis, it would be a little surprising if he returns on Thursday.
Merrill was a crucial part of Cleveland’s rotation during its first-round series vs. Toronto, providing much-needed floor spacing. After making 42.1% of his three-pointers during the regular season, he converted 11-of-29 (37.9%) across seven games against the Raptors. Among Cavs players, only Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, and Max Strus made more threes in the first round, and each of them played more minutes and hit a lower percentage than Merrill.
As Fedor notes, after Merrill went down in Game 1, the Cavs increased the workloads of Strus and Jaylon Tyson and inserted Keon Ellis into their rotation.
“We’ll probably have to lean on those guys if Sam isn’t back right away,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has been added to the team’s injury report due to an illness and is considered a game-time decision for Wednesday’s Game 2, head coach Mike Brown told reporters this afternoon (Twitter link via James L. Edwards III of The Athletic). Robinson played just 12 minutes and had two points, four rebounds, and four fouls in Game 1.
- Although the Sixers ruled out Joel Embiid for Game 2 of their series vs. New York, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll miss multiple contests. Head coach Nick Nurse said today that it’s fair to consider Embiid day-to-day as a result of his ankle and hip injuries, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic.
- As gruesome as Jarred Vanderbilt‘s finger injury looked on Tuesday, the Lakers provided a positive update on his status on Wednesday. “They were able to put his finger back together. He’s splinted and he’s day to day,” head coach JJ Redick said of Vanderbilt, who sustained an open dislocation of his right pinky finger (Twitter link via Khobi Price of the California Post). Vanderbilt is considered doubtful to play in Game 2 on Thursday, while Luke Kennard is also on the injury report as questionable due to neck soreness, per the team (Twitter link via Jovan Buha).
- Pistons wing Kevin Huerter, on the shelf since April 27 due to a left adductor strain, has been listed as doubtful for Game 2 vs. Cleveland, per Hunter Patterson of The Athletic (Twitter link). Huerter was listed as questionable for Game 1 being being downgraded to out.
Lakers’ Jarred Vanderbilt Dislocates Pinky Finger
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt suffered a full dislocation of his right pinky finger during Game 1 of their series against the Thunder on Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.
As The California Post’s Khobi Price writes, Vanderbilt was injured during the first half attempting to block an alley-oop for Chet Holmgren. Vanderbilt’s right pinky hit the backboard as he swiped for the ball.
The 6-foot-8 forward immediately went to the ground in pain, holding his right hand near the Thunder bench. Some Oklahoma City players turned away when they saw Vanderbilt’s hand.
The loss of Vanderbilt would remove a wing/frontcourt option for the underdog Lakers, who are already waiting for superstar Luka Doncic to return from his hamstring injury. The veteran averaged 3.6 points and 4.4 rebounds in 13.4 minutes per game against Houston during the first round.
Vanderbilt was benched during the decisive Game 6 after playing just six minutes in Game 5. He appeared in 65 games during the regular season, averaging 4.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest.
Oklahoma City went on to win the opener, 108-90. Once Vanderbilt came out in the first half, the Lakers essentially went with an eight-man rotation until garbage time.
Vanderbilt has two years remaining on his four-year, $48MM deal.
Lakers Notes: LeBron, Playoff Seed, Kennard, Vanderbilt
If there’s a silver lining for the Lakers after losing Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to injuries, it’s the fact that LeBron James has shown he can still dominate when asked to spearhead an offense, says Melissa Rohlin of The California Post.
The 41-year-old superstar was the third offensive option for the first time in his 23-year career before his teammates got injured, but he has averaged 28.0 points, 12.7 assists, 7.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals while shooting 60.0% from the field, including 46.2% on three-pointers, in three games as the team’s primary offensive hub, Rohlin notes.
“I had to tap back into a role that I’ve been accustomed to in the past, but obviously it wasn’t what it was this year,” James said. “But circumstances have put me back in there, and I’m just trying to feed off my teammates, teammates are feeding off of me, and just trying to make things happen for us to continue to stay afloat.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- While the team’s final seed is still up in the air, Los Angeles secured home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs after Friday’s slate of games, writes Khobi Price of The California Post. The Nuggets and Lakers are assured of being the third and fourth seeds, in some order, while Houston is locked in at No. 5 and Minnesota is No. 6. The Lakers, who are currently No. 4, need to beat Utah Sunday and need Denver to lose at San Antonio to move up to No. 3.
- Luke Kennard has been given far more on-ball and play-making duties with Doncic and Reaves out and has responded with 31 assists in the last four games, per Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times. Head coach JJ Redick praised the veteran guard’s professionalism and willingness to embrace various responsibilities, while James lauded Kennard’s versatility. “He’s just a ball player,” James said. “… People just kind of gave him the narrative of just being a shooter. But he does so many more things. He can handle the ball, he can rebound the ball, he can make plays. … And what we’re missing right now, we need it [from him]. We need it more and more than ever.”
- Veteran forward Jarred Vanderbilt addressed his recent confrontation with Redick after Friday’s win over Phoenix, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN relays (Twitter video link). “We talked about it, we moved on from it,” Vanderbilt said. “At this point in the season, we both realize this is the group we got. So it’s definitely not a time for anybody to separate.”
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Horford, Santos, Durant, Suns
After missing nine straight games due to a right ankle contusion, former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart will return to action on Friday for the Lakers, tweets Jovan Buha. Los Angeles, which is jockeying for playoff seeding in the Western Conference, faces Phoenix tonight.
Head coach JJ Redick said Thursday that he spoke to Luka Doncic, who is rehabilitating from a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in Europe, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). Redick said Doncic was in “relatively good spirits,” adding that it’s been good to have Austin Reaves around the team as he recovers from his own injury (oblique strain).
Redick also had a conversation with Jarred Vanderbilt about Tuesday’s spat in which the 27-year-old forward accosted Redick for calling a timeout to remove him from the game (Twitter link via McMenamin). Redick didn’t divulge any details about that conversation but said it went “great.” Vanderbilt played 26 minutes in Thursday’s win at Golden State after receiving just five on Tuesday.
Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- As expected, Al Horford will return from a 14-game absence on Friday in Sacramento, relays Anthony Slater of ESPN (via Twitter). The Warriors big man has been out since March 13 due to a right calf (soleus) strain. Horford, who holds a $5.97MM player option for next season, has averaged 8.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 blocks in 43 appearances in 2025/26 (21.7 minutes per game).
- Several filmmakers from Brazil have been recording documentary footage of Gui Santos throughout the course of the Warriors forward’s third NBA season, as Danny Emerman of The San Francisco Standard details. The former second-round pick has unexpectedly been thrust into a major rotation role the past couple months after Jimmy Butler suffered a torn ACL in his right knee. Santos said he watches every episode and his family back home in Brazil loves the series, which is released on YouTube with English subtitles. “It’s on the internet, so that’s one thing that’s never going to get lost,” Santos told Emerman. “So, when I’m 50 years old or 40 years old, sit with my grandsons on the sofa just watching that: ‘Look, your grandpa was strong, your grandpa was playing in the NBA.’ That will be nice.“
- Rockets forward Kevin Durant said prior to Tuesday’s matchup in Phoenix that he’s “pretty much over” the way his Suns tenure ended, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. It was Durant’s first game in Phoenix since he was traded to Houston last summer. “At the time, it was tough to take. A place I wanted to be. I wanted to keep building, but it’s the business of the league and it’s the business of basketball,” Durant said. “You’re not going to be in the same place all the time. It is what it is. Yeah, I was sour early on, but I think I’ve gotten over it. Time heals all. Just move on.” The 37-year-old star had 24 points, four rebounds and three assists during Tuesday’s game, which Houston won.
Lakers Notes: Rotation, Smart, Vanderbilt, Reaves, Season
The Lakers have been left searching for answers in the wake of multi-week injuries to star guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, writes Benjamin Royer of The Southern California News Group. Head coach JJ Redick is trying to find a workable rotation with three regular season games remaining before the playoffs, but some of the players who seemed like locks for more minutes and touches have struggled.
Starting center Deandre Ayton, for instance, only had three points (on 1-of-4 shooting) and three rebounds in Tuesday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City. Redick said he’s been calling plenty of plays for the No. 1 overall pick, yet the Bahamian big man hasn’t been able to capitalize on those opportunities.
“He’s just had trouble catching the ball,” Redick said. “And I don’t know if that’s the passing or if it’s, you know, him trying to get position, he just, he hasn’t been able to catch the ball.”
Entering last week’s game against the Thunder, in which both Doncic and Reaves sustained their respective injuries, the Lakers had gone 16-2 over their last 18 games. They’ve now dropped three straight, with lingering uncertainty about what the rotation will look like in the postseason.
“Chemistry was high,” guard Luke Kennard said. “We were really close as a group, and it still is. I feel like this might have brought us even closer. Obviously, it’s a different look out there on the court and different voices, but it was definitely a shock and something we weren’t expecting this late in the year going into the playoffs.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Law Murray of The Athletic takes a look at which players might be part of the playoff rotation, listing them in tiers based on their likelihood of receiving minutes. LeBron James is in his own tier as “the anchor,” followed by Kennard, Marcus Smart, Jaxson Hayes and Jake LaRavia, who are in the “rotation locks” tier. Smart will miss his ninth consecutive game Thursday at Golden State due to a right ankle contusion, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Redick continues to refer to Smart as day-to-day, according to Murray, though the second-year coach acknowledged the team thought the veteran guard would have returned from the injury by now.
- Redick downplayed a spat he had with Jarred Vanderbilt in the second quarter of Tuesday’s game, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. Redick called timeout just 16 seconds into the second quarter to remove Vanderbilt, though it wasn’t clear why, and the 27-year-old responded by verbally lashing out at his coach. Redick said a “confluence of things” led to the incident. “It’s nothing personal with him. Normal stuff from my end,” Redick said after the loss. “I think for all of us, being undermanned, we’ve got to scrap and claw, we’ve got to all be on the same page, we got to be great teammates, we got to all play hard. Called a timeout to get him out of the game. And he reacted. But again, normal interaction for me.” Vanderbilt, who didn’t play at all after the incident, finished with three points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in five minutes. The eighth-year forward left the arena before reporters were permitted into the locker room, McMenamin notes.
- Reaves is widely expected to decline his $14.9MM player option for next season to become a free agent this summer. How much money will he make in unrestricted free agency? Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores that question, writing that the 27-year-old will likely receive a multiyear deal with a starting salary somewhere between $30MM and $41.3MM (his max) in 2026/27.
- The Lakers aren’t going anywhere in the playoffs and the team should shut down Doncic and Reaves for the rest of the season so they don’t risk long-term damage by attempting to rush back from their injuries, argues Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times. Doncic traveled to Europe to try to expedite his recovery process from a Grade 2 hamstring strain, while Reaves is battling a strained oblique muscle.
Lakers’ Redick Defends Decision To Play Doncic, Reaves In Blowout
The Lakers‘ season took an unfortunate turn last Thursday as Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were injured during a 134-96 loss to Oklahoma City. Speaking with reporters before Sunday’s game at Dallas, head coach JJ Redick explained his decision to use both players in the second half with the team trailing by a wide margin, per Dan Woike of The Athletic.
Doncic was diagnosed on Friday with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that could sideline him for a month or more. He plans to seek treatment in Europe in hopes of making a faster recovery. On Saturday, the Lakers learned that Reaves will miss four-to-six weeks with a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury.
Redick said internal medical data didn’t show any signs that Doncic was being overused heading into Thursday. He grabbed at his left hamstring at one point in the first half, but received medical clearance to go back into the game. He suffered the injury early in the third quarter after planting his left leg and again reached for his hamstring.
Reaves experienced a tweak in his left side during the first half of Thursday’s game and went to the locker room to have it checked. He returned in the third quarter and appeared to aggravate the initial injury.
“As a coach, you go on the information you have,” Redick said. “He was medically cleared. When Austin came back, I asked directly. I thought he was hurt. (I was told), ‘No, he’s medically cleared.’ The group wanted to go for it in the second half. Talked about it at halftime. And I think, for both those guys, the nature of playing heavy minutes, that’s certainly a part of, like any equation when you’re trying to manage workloads. We also rely on the tracking data, and we’re looking at that after every game. You know, acceleration, jumps, workload, all of those things.
“And there have been a few times this year where it’s gone, away from the standard deviation of whatever their baseline is, and we make the proper adjustments. There was nothing leading into that game that would suggest either those guys were ‘running hot,’ as we call it.”
Redick also talked about the need to “extend the season” so Doncic and Reaves can return at some point in the playoffs. L.A. is currently tied with Denver at 50-28 and holds the tie-breaker for the No. 3 seed in the West, but a challenging schedule lies ahead with games this week against Oklahoma City, Golden State, Phoenix and Utah.
The Lakers got their first look at what life is going to be like in the meantime in Sunday’s loss to the Mavericks, per Dave McMenamin and Shams Charania of ESPN. L.A. gave up 41 points in the first quarter and trailed by 22 at one point before rallying to make the game close.
They used a starting lineup of LeBron James, Luke Kennard, Deandre Ayton, Rui Hachimura and Jake LaRavia that had never played together before Sunday. McMenamin and Charania note that the group that started the second quarter – James, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes, Maxi Kleber and Kobe Bufkin – was also playing together for the first time.
James talked about the shock of finding out about Reaves’ absence in the wake of Doncic’s injury.
“I took my nap after practice, and I woke up with that news, it was like another shot to the [head],” James said. “It was a shot to the heart, obviously, and to the chest and to the mainframe with Luka. … But we kind of got that news kind of quick, and AR … we knew he was going to get an MRI, but I woke up from my nap yesterday and then saw that news, and I was like, ‘S–t.’ That was literally my tone.”
James took on a larger role with the other two stars sidelined, but the Lakers are going to be careful not to overuse him for the rest of the regular season, according to Khobi Price of The California Post. He finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and 15 assists in 39 minutes – marking just his sixth 30-point game of the season, along with his highest assist total of 2025/26.
“We did enough intentionally to get him sort of out of actions and not have him involved in every single play when he was out there,” Redick said. “And then there were times when he would get an outlet pass or get the ball and just kind of manipulated the half-court set for us and we got some good stuff.”
Trade Rumors: Morant, Lakers, Pelicans, Mathurin, Kuminga
Although Ja Morant‘s time with the Grizzlies has been on a downward trajectory for a few years, tensions reached a boiling point at the end of October, when Morant received a team-issued one-game suspension, writes Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints.
Head coach Tuomas Iisalo reportedly challenged Morant’s “leadership and effort” following a loss to the Lakers in which the point guard was noticeably disengaged throughout the second half. Morant responded to Iisalo in a “tone deemed inappropriate.”
According to Siegel’s sources, the event led to a schism in Memphis’ locker room, with some players agreeing with Morant and some siding with the coaching staff. He never formally requested a trade, but the 26-year-old made it clear he couldn’t see a path forward with the Grizzlies in the wake of the suspension, Siegel adds.
The Heat hold a level of interest in Morant, Siegel confirms. The Kings are also hanging on the periphery of the situation, though they’d only be interested in acquiring Morant if the asking price was low enough — Sacramento is unwilling to part with draft assets in any talks for the two-time All-Star, sources tell Siegel.
Here are a few more rumors and notes from around the NBA:
- The Lakers are exploring the possibility of trading their 2032 first-round pick for two or three lesser-value first-rounders, according to Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter video link), who points out that Phoenix made a similar move last year in a deal with Utah. Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent have both been made available as Los Angeles continues to search for a wing upgrade, O’Connor adds.
- The Pelicans are among the teams with interest in Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin, league sources tell Siegel (Twitter video link). Indiana has checked in with New Orleans about second-year center Yves Missi, and Siegel wonders if the two clubs could potentially make a deal centered around those two players.
- Head coach Steve Kerr said Jonathan Kuminga‘s trade demand won’t cause any problems for the Warriors prior to Thursday’s game vs. New York, as Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. “It won’t be a distraction,” Kerr said. “Jonathan’s a great young guy. His teammates like him. He’s handling himself well. There won’t be a distraction.” Kerr said he spoke to Kuminga earlier in the day. “There’s not a whole lot I can say about the other stuff,” Kerr said. “It is what it is. Difficult situation for everybody. Part of this league, part of this job. We just keep moving forward. But it’s a tough situation and I don’t really have much to add.”