Anthony Slater of ESPN published a piece on Wednesday morning that detailed the breakup between the Golden State Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga. If you haven't read it, you need to, but be ready to be more frustrated than you already were about how the forward's time ended in the Bay. They waited too long to trade him, and Joe Lacob shoulders a large part of the blame for that.
Kuminga was Lacob's pick in 2021 after the two had dinner together before the draft. He thought that the forward would be the one to lead the team in the post-Steph Curry era. As Slater wrote, the owner "was too unwilling to move off a dream that didn't fit the roster or system, one his coaching staff didn't desire to execute, team sources said."
A team source told ESPN, "Let your basketball people make basketball decisions."
The Warriors had several different chances to trade Kuminga, including trading him to the Bulls in 2024 in a deal for Alex Caruso. Slater said that deal was "viewed by some in the organization as the prime opportunity they should've pounced." Over the 2025 offseason, they could've sent him out in a sign-and-trade, but they weren't interested in what the Kings and Suns had to offer.
After holding onto Kuminga, Golden State finally traded him before last week's deadline, sending him and Buddy Hield to Atlanta for Kristaps Porziņġis. It's not exactly the trade the Warriors had in mind when they re-signed the forward last summer, but it reflected his low trade value.
Warriors kept Jonathan Kuminga for far too long
Golden State set itself up for failure, and it started with selecting Kuminga with the No. 7 pick in the draft. Lacob "pushed" for the Warriors to select the forward, and Slater wrote that Bob Myers and Mike Dunleavy didn't object. You know who went No. 8, the pick after Kuminga, but in case you need a reminder, it was the Wagner brother in Orlando who is averaging 21.9 points per game this season.
ESPN reported that team sources believed that Lacob's resistance to parting with Kuminga in trades was because he was the driving force behind the Warriors selecting him in 2021. Lacob wanted to see Kuminga become the player he envisioned: a star and future face of the franchise.
A source told ESPN that Lacob gets "outsized blame" and that others have also shown "indecision" about trading Kuminga.
However you look at it, you can't deny that Lacob is part of the problem. He and Steve Kerr have never been on the same page about Kuminga. If Golden State had been able to get a quality player in return for the forward, this wouldn't be as much of a conversation, but they got an injury-prone former star who is on an expiring contract.
Porziņġis is an impactful player on both ends of the floor, but can he stay healthy? He's struggled to do that the past year and a half. Depending on how he fares in the Bay, the Warriors' mishandling of the Kuminga saga could look even worse.
As much of a relief as it is knowing that Golden State no longer has a Kuminga cloud hanging over the organization, the Warriors are still reeling from the consequences.