Jordan Poole, James Wiseman, and Jonathan Kuminga were once viewed as future cornerstones for the Golden State Warriors, but all three are now gone. Kuminga was the last to be shipped out, with the Warriors trading him to the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.
Following the Kuminga trade, Warriors superstar Stephen Curry’s remarks about his three former teammates resurfaced. During an interview with GQ in Jan. 2022, Curry spoke about the glorious future he envisioned for them.
“Curry, for his part, dreams of a future five years from now where Poole is an all-star, Kuminga is an all-defensive player, and Wiseman is an MVP candidate. He and Green will be fulfilled then, he says.”
Things couldn’t have panned out much worse. They didn’t even come close to achieving what Curry had hoped, but one of them could have.
Months after Curry made these comments, Poole played a key role in the Warriors’ winning the NBA title in 2022. He averaged 18.5 points per game in the 2021-22 regular season and followed that up by posting 17.0 points on 50.8% shooting from the field in the playoffs.
Poole, whom the Warriors selected with the 28th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, was being talked about as the heir apparent to Curry following the triumph. He was potentially on the path to being an All-Star, but then disaster struck.
Draymond Green infamously punched Poole during a Warriors practice on Oct. 5, 2022, and the guard was just never quite the same after that. His next trip to the postseason would prove to be a complete failure. Poole averaged 10.3 points on 34.1% shooting from the field in the 2023 playoffs, and that was the end of his time with the team.
It was clear after the season that either Green or Poole had to be traded. The Warriors had no choice but to pick between them and chose the veteran. Poole was traded to the Washington Wizards on July 6, 2023, and one is left wondering what might have been if not for the punch.
Poole wasn’t the first of the young trio to be moved, though. That would be the player whom Curry hoped to see become an MVP candidate.
The Warriors selected Wiseman with the second pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, and he was supposed to be the dominant big man that they hadn’t had during their dynastic run. It wasn’t to be, though.
Wiseman split opinion as a rookie and then suffered a torn right meniscus at the end of the 2020-21 season. While that was bad enough, he would unfortunately suffer a setback in his rehab and miss his entire sophomore campaign.
By the time Wiseman finally returned, it was clear he wasn’t going to live up to the lofty expectations once placed on him. He averaged 6.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.7 assists, and 0.1 steals per game for the Warriors in the 2022-23 season, and they’d trade him to the Indiana Pacers midway through the campaign on Feb. 9, 2023.
Wiseman isn’t even in the NBA today after the Pacers released him on Dec. 26, 2025. He has unfortunately gone down as one of the biggest busts in recent history.
Lastly, we get to Kuminga, and it was clear for quite some time that this partnership wasn’t going to work. The Warriors had selected him with the seventh pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, but head coach Steve Kerr never appeared to be his biggest fan.
Kuminga’s playing time and role kept fluctuating, which wasn’t ideal for his development. There appeared to be a good chance he’d finally be on his way out last summer when he became a restricted free agent, but he stayed. After months of tense negotiations, Kuminga and the Warriors agreed to a two-year, $46.8 million deal.
Kuminga then found himself in the starting lineup at the beginning of the 2025-26 season, and there was renewed hope that perhaps things would finally work out. Unfortunately, they didn’t.
Kerr had Kuminga come off the bench after 12 games and then removed him from the rotation entirely. It took Jimmy Butler tearing his ACL for the forward to find his way back in.
Kuminga suffered a bone bruise in his knee two games into his return, though, and has now been shipped out. He and Buddy Hield were sent to the Hawks for Kristaps Porzingis.
Kuminga finished his frustrating Warriors career with averages of 12.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game. Poole and Wiseman haven’t thrived since leaving the team, and it will be interesting to see if it’s any different for him.
As for the Warriors, this latest move ensures that their two-timeline approach will be looked back on as an abject failure. They had a chance to extend their dynastic run with those draft picks, and failed miserably.
