SAN FRANCISCO — On the first day he became eligible to be moved, fifth-year forward Jonathan Kuminga demanded a trade away from the Golden State Warriors, league sources told ESPN.
Kuminga could not be traded until Thursday, according to the terms of the contract he signed this summer. The trade deadline is Feb. 5.
Kuminga’s roller-coaster tenure with the Warriors is perhaps at its lowest point. He started the first 12 games of the season — with coach Steve Kerr calling him a secure starter following a hot start — but a patch of struggles led to a demotion, landing poorly with the 23-year-old.
Kuminga hasn’t seen the floor in the Warriors’ past 13 games. Kerr buried him at the bottom of his deep rotation, and Kuminga ruled himself out with back soreness an hour before a game on Jan. 2 against the Thunder, when Kerr said he planned to use him while the starters rested.
Team sources said that essentially every major figure on the ground level of the operation — most notably Kuminga, Kerr and the veterans watching a $22.5 million player sit on the bench while the team is stuck in a “mediocre” state, as Jimmy Butler called it — agree that the best resolution is to trade Kuminga prior to the deadline.
“I’m disappointed for him that things didn’t continue to go the way they did the first couple of weeks,” Kerr said recently.
The Warriors spent the entire summer in contentious contract negotiations with Kuminga, using a challenging restricted free agency market to get him back on a two-year, $46.8 million contract with a team option on the second season. That structure, which Kuminga told those around him he felt forced into signing, further soured his relationship with management, league sources said, but was done to deliver the Warriors a tradeable contract at the deadline.
General manager Mike Dunleavy and his front office have spent the past several weeks canvassing the market for Kuminga. The Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks are among the teams that have shown interest in Kuminga as an intriguing part of their rebuild, league sources said, but several other teams are also in the mix because of his flexible contract structure.
Kuminga has a $24.3 million team option for next season, meaning his contract can be used as an expiring deal (option declined), trade filler in the summer or as a low-risk flier on a 6-foot-7 wing who averaged 24.3 points on 55.6% shooting in the final four games of the Warriors’ second-round series loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last May.
League sources said the Warriors have been prioritizing expiring contracts in return for Kuminga. They’ve declined the idea of taking back long-term contracts unless they view it as no-brainer positive value. That has been the holdup in conversations with Sacramento. The Warriors refuse to absorb the three years and $60.4 million remaining on Malik Monk’s deal, though league sources said Keon Ellis (on a cheap expiring deal) is a potential sweetener of interest to them.
As of this week, the Warriors hadn’t talked to the Brooklyn Nets in more than a month and have never shown real interest in a trade for wing Michael Porter Jr., league sources said. They’ve been fond of Trey Murphy III in the past, but the New Orleans Pelicans are rebuffing calls about all of their young wings, league sources said.
If the right star player is made available, the Warriors would be willing to move multiple first-round draft picks, team sources said, though they are more protective of their first-rounders in 2028 and beyond than their 2026 pick.
The Warriors’ decision-makers have also given zero assurances to any team that Kuminga will be traded prior to the deadline, despite the dynamics at play, believing it could prove better business to push the decision to the summer. Rival executives said they believe that stance is a bluff and Kuminga will be moved.
