The Golden State Warriors have essentially wanted to get rid of Jonathan Kuminga for a long time now. As of Wednesday, they have. The Warriors finally put an end to one of the longest and most frustrating (for team and player) sagas in recent NBA history. In doing so, the Warriors also tooled up to help withstand the loss of Jimmy Butler.
Golden State Warriors move on from Jonathan Kuminga
The Jonathan Kuminga era with the Golden State Warriors was short-lived and pretty disappointing. They spent the seventh overall pick on him in 2021, but things never really came to fruition. He has averaged 12.5 points for his career, which isn’t bad, but he was supposed to be the future.
Perhaps fittingly, Kuminga has never played more than 26.4 minutes per game in his career, so the Warriors haven’t exactly been thrilled with him from the beginning. That peaked last year when it was reported that they were shopping him.
No one bit, and he entered restricted free agency. While teams often hesitate to get into bidding wars for RFAs since the incumbent team can just match, not a single team offered Kuminga a contract. It looked like he would have to sign the qualifying offer, but the Warriors got him back on a team-friendly two-year deal.
That didn’t solve their issues, though, and they were actively looking for a trade this year. Finally, they found one. They sent Kuminga and guard Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks for Kristaps Porzingis. No draft capital was attached.
Kuminga’s story was a very interesting one. He was fairly productive when on the court. At least, he wasn’t unplayable, and with more minutes, his stats usually went up. The Warriors just didn’t like him that much, and they wanted to move on.
This was in spite of his still being just 23 years old. He has a long future ahead of him, and he could absolutely get better. The Warriors probably weren’t sold on that idea, and they weren’t convinced he would ever be good enough to be the face of a team in the post-Steph Curry era.
The Curry era has lasted so long that it’s been hard to acquire young talent to exist beyond it. He’s still good enough to contend with, so the Warriors keep sacrificing their future in order to stay competitive now. That now includes moving on from Kuminga.
Why the Warriors wanted to do this
Aside from obviously being unhappy with Jonathan Kuminga, the Golden State Warriors did this for multiple reasons. They lost Jimmy Butler to a torn ACL, which puts 2026 in doubt and the future beyond that. There’s no telling what his future holds, and if it’s even going to be with the Warriors or not.
But in the immediate interim, the Warriors badly needed a co-star for Curry. Butler had been a great secondary option, transforming the team when he arrived last year. But he’s gone now, and the Warriors had been surging. They were heating up and getting back into the playoff race, but that all felt like it would inevitably end without Butler.
The Warriors were reportedly in on Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he was likely far too expensive to bring on in terms of assets and salary cap. The Warriors needed a cheaper option, so they pivoted to Kristaps Porzingis.
He is a good player, but he’s only played a handful of games this year because of illness and other ailments. If he can stay healthy, then the Warriors should remain mostly competitive for another season. If he can’t, then they’ll be in big trouble, but they had to go for it now.
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