The Warriors have had a rocky 9-8 start to the season after a summer filled with the back and forth of negotiations around Jonathan Kuminga’s contract. Former players and experts around the league believe that the Warriors need another star player alongside Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler to become a serious title contender.
If the Warriors decide to blow it up, they have multiple assets to consider trading for that star player. According to NBA Insider Marc Stein, an anonymous franchise executive in the NBA claimed that Jonathan Kuminga is viewed as one of the best trade assets across the league.
“He’s not even eligible to be moved until Jan. 15, but it’s no secret that the Warriors’ hardball stance all summer with Kuminga in the sides’ restricted free agency saga was adopted with the intention to ensure that the 23-year-old was re-signed to a tradeable contract. ‘It’s one of the best trade chips in the league,’ one veteran executive told The Stein Line,” wrote Marc Stein in his most recent report.
Following this start, reports suggested that the Warriors’ veterans view the young players as problematic due to the potential of their ‘personal agendas.’
When Draymond Green addressed this indirectly, it was commonly assumed across the league that he was referring to Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski amid the growing tensions in the locker room. Kuminga reportedly believes he’s being turned into the scapegoat for the Warriors’ problems.
For context, Kuminga spent the entire summer reportedly claiming that he doesn’t want to stay with the Warriors, and yet managed to convince the front office to give him an extension significantly close to meeting his initial demands.
The Warriors knew they had a mammoth task of rehabilitating him back onto the roster after so much drama in the summer. Therefore, it is a consequence of the Warriors’ inability to figure out a proper system for Kuminga that the rest of the league now reportedly views him as a valuable trade asset.
Especially considering he’s the only young player on this aging roster who is earning over $20 million in a season. The Congolese player is currently on a two-year, $48.5 million deal with the Warriors after signing an extension this summer.
Kuminga offers two key advantages: his young age and his potential when he reaches his prime. Enough promise for a franchise to want to invest in him while fulfilling the salary requirements if the Warriors consider making a move to add more veteran talent to the team to maximize on Curry’s prime instead of building for the future.
Kuminga is currently averaging 13.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 13 games played for the Warriors this season. He had three games where he dropped 24 or more points in the game.
The Warriors’ starlet lost his starter role earlier this season after getting sidelined due to knee issues. This creates a very reasonable anticipation that if the Warriors decide to pull the plug on their young core at the moment for a potential star player, Jonathan Kuminga’s name will almost definitely come up in the negotiations.
