NBA Trade Rumors: Warriors inching closer to trading Jonathan Kuminga?
NBA Trade Rumors: The Golden State Warriors could be inching closer to trading Jonathan Kuminga.
Losers of six straight games, it’s been far from an ideal first month of the season for the Golden State Warriors. At some point soon, the Warriors probably need to make a move that will either jumpstart the team heading into the holiday season or retool their supporting cast that has suddenly turned stale.
Either way, if something doesn’t change quickly, the Warriors will need to get proactive before this season begins to slip out of its grip. And one player that could find himself on the trade block at some point soon is third-year forward Jonathan Kuminga.
As the seventh overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the hope was that Kuminga could be developed into somewhat of a replacement for Draymond Green down the road. Or, in perhaps a best-case scenario, a good complementary player next to him.
While Kuminga has shown flashes of promise, he’s yet to be a consistent enough player to prove his overall value to the Warriors. Because of his inconsistency, it’s come to the point where the Warriors may seriously think hard about cutting ties to him via trade.
In fact, according to a recent report, there’s a growing belief around the league that the Warriors are inching closer to their “breaking point” with Kuminga and that they could end up trading him sooner rather than later.
Have the Golden State Warriors reached their breaking point?
During his third season with the Warriors, Kuminga is averaging 12 points and three rebounds on 43 percent shooting from the field. He’s on pace to finish with the least efficient offensive season of his career. That has to be somewhat shocking for the Warriors considering the hope was that he would begin to blossom by this point in his career.
And if the Warriors do need to make some sort of change, Kuminga is probably the one player currently in the rotation that they wouldn’t hesitate to include in a deal.
Kuminga is far from the biggest problem for the Warriors. However, he hasn’t made life easier for them either. Part of the reason for the Warriors’ struggles is that no one on the roster has seemingly outperformed expectations so far this season, perhaps with the exception of Stephen Curry.
The Warriors second-leading scorer is Klay Thompson and he’s only averaging 14 points per game.
The Warriors are struggling and might need to shake up the roster before it’s too late. Trading Kuminga could make sense for the team on multiple fronts and it could very well happen soon.