When reporters asked Golden State Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy, Jr. about Jonathan Kuminga’s trade demand, he didn’t just have an answer. He delivered a bar.
“In terms of demands, when you make a demand, there needs to be demand,” Dunleavy said Monday. He went to explain that Cranbrook is a private school, Kuminga’s parents had a real good marriage, and that while Kuminga stands tough, he noticed that on defense this man doesn’t have his hands up.
It’s not clear if Dunleavy intended to be so savage about Kuminga’s lack of trade value, one not helped by his inconsistent playing time with the Warriors. At the same time, Kuminga and his agent, Aaron Turner, haven’t been able to find much in the way of interest from other teams, or at least not ones willing to give up anything of value for the 23-year-old forward.
During the summer, the Sacramento Kings were the main team who expressed interest in Kuminga, but their trade offers were centered around second-year point guard Devin Carter and local favorite Dario Šarić, or taking on Malik Monk’s long-term contract, plus a Schrödinger’s cat of a future first-round pick that might be protected, might not, and might not even exist —it depends on what trade rumors you observe. They’re still interested in Kuminga, but the rosters don’t match up well for a trade, considering the Warriors don’t really need an eighth shooting guard in Monk.
During the summer, the Phoenix Suns were reportedly willing to give Kuminga a four-year deal for $90M or so, and their offer also included a salary dump of Royce O’Neale (owed $32.6M through 2027-28) and a garbage plate of second-round picks. It’s very difficult to make a deal work with the Suns in terms of matching contracts, and the 27-17 Suns may not be interested in shaking up their roster, especially with the return of another rim-attacking score-first player in Jalen Green.
Dunleavy’s harshness may be a result of the seemingly endless Kuminga saga, which dates back more than a year. It’s possible that Kuminga’s ankle injury last season scuttled the team’s plans to include him in a blockbuster deal, either for original trade target Kevin Durant or the eventual move for Jimmy Butler. It seems like Kuminga’s agent spends more time posting highlights of his client (some of which were allegedly altered) and taking to social media to criticize the team’s treatment of Kuminga than finding him a new home. Turner posted this after Kuminga sat in the 4th quarter of a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Sitting Kuminga for a month hurts his trade value but so does his agent trying to go viral on social media and making the podcast rounds. Is Kuminga’s new organization going to be excited to deal with Turner?
In his return from exile Tuesday, Kuminga scored 20 points, which might help rekindle interest from teams who may have forgotten he was in the NBA at all. If nothing else, he showed that he’s stayed mentally strong and prepared even through a parade of DNP-CDs and that the Kuminga-Hield combination can light up the scoreboard, at least against the Toronto Raptors reserves.
It seems like Kuminga really, really wants a trade and the Warriors are willing to trade him. Finding a trade partner will be a “demanding” job.
