San Francisco–On the very first day he was eligible to advance to the fifth year Jonathan Kuminga sought business away from Golden State WarriorsLeague sources told ESPN.
Per the terms of the contract he signed this summer, Kuminga could not be traded until Thursday. The trade deadline is February 5.
Kuminga’s tumultuous tenure with the Warriors is perhaps at its lowest ebb. He started the first 12 games of the season – coach Steve Kerr called him a safe starter after a promising start – but a run of struggles led to a decline in morale and the 23-year-old’s poor performance.
Kuminga has not faced defeat in the Warriors’ last 13 matches. Kerr pressed him to the bottom of his depth rotation, and Kuminga ruled himself out due to back pain an hour before the game on January 2 against the Thunder, after Kerr said he had planned to use him while the starters rested.
Team sources said essentially every key person on the ground level of the operation – especially Kuminga, Kerr and the veterans watching a $22.5 million player sit on the bench while the team is stuck in a “mediocre” situation, as Jimmy Butler put it – agrees that the best solution is to trade Kuminga before the deadline.
“I’m disappointed for him that things haven’t gone the way they have in the first few weeks,” Kerr said recently.
The Warriors spent the entire summer in contentious contract negotiations with Kuminga, using a challenging restricted free agency market to bring him back to a two-year, $46.8 million contract with a team option for a second season. League sources said the structure, which Kuminga told those around him he was forced to sign, further soured his relationship with management, but was done in order to give the Warriors a tradable contract at the deadline.
General manager Mike Dunleavy and his front office have spent the past several weeks pitching the market to Kuminga. Sacramento Kings And dallas mavericks League sources said they are among the teams that have shown interest in Kuminga as an interesting part of their rebuild, but several other teams are also in the mix due to his flexible contract structure.
Kuminga has a $24.3 million team option for next season, meaning his contract can be used on an expiring deal (option declined), a summer trade filler or as a low-risk flyer on the 6-foot-7 wing, who averaged 24.3 points on 55.6% shooting over the final four games of the Warriors’ second-round series loss. minnesota timberwolves Last May.
League sources said the Warriors are prioritizing expiring contracts in exchange for Kuminga. They have rejected the idea of withdrawing from long-term contracts unless they see it as having positive value without thinking about it. That has been the stumbling block in negotiations with Sacramento. Warriors declined to spend three years and remaining $60.4 million malik monkdeal, though league sources said keon ellis (on a cheap ending deal) is a potential sweetener of interest to them.
Until this week, the Warriors didn’t talk Brooklyn Nets It’s been over a month and he has never shown any real interest in Wing’s business Michael Porter Jr.., league sources said. they are fond of Trey Murphy III in the past, but New Orleans Pelicans League sources said they are dismissing calls regarding all their youth wings.
Team sources said the Warriors would be willing to move several first-round draft selections if the right star player is made available, although they are more protective of their first-round players in 2028 and beyond than their 2026 selections.
The Warriors’ decision-makers have not given any assurance to either team that Kuminga will be traded before the deadline, despite the dynamics of the game, believing it may prove to be better business to push the decision into the summer. Rival officials said they believed the stance to be a hoax and that Kuminga would be removed.
