With another few weeks until he's officially trade eligible, there's an assumption that Jonathan Kuminga will see the floor for the Golden State Warriors again despite sitting outside the current rotation.
While that could happen thanks to injuries to his teammates or simply a need for his athleticism and skillset, there's still a chance that Kuminga has actually played his last game for the Warriors already.
Jonathan Kuminga may have played his last game for the Warriors
Kuminga has now been a DNP in five of the past six games, including on Christmas Day against the Dallas Mavericks where Steve Kerr went 11 deep in the rotation as Golden State pulled out their third-straight win.
The 23-year-old's only recent playing time came last Thursday against the Phoenix Suns where he recored just two points and four rebounds on 1-of-5 shooting in the heart-breaking 99-98 defeat.
The Warriors also welcomed Al Horford back against the Mavericks on Christmas, giving them a fully available rotation for quite some time. With Horford, Draymond Green, Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis all in the rotation, there doesn't appear much room for Kuminga in a suddenly loaded front court.
Yet even beyond the rotation question mark, we're also getting so close to Kuminga being trade eligible that it might be beneficial for both he and the franchise for him to actually sit on the bench. Given some sort of trade seems a fait accompli, the absolute worst thing would be for Kuminga to get injured right now before the deadline.
Even if the former seventh overall pick was to take to the floor again, there's such a short timeframe left that it's unlikely to shift his trade value much in either direction, as NBA insider Jake Fischer recently outlined on The Stein Line.
"I polled various executives on the subject and none of them indicated that Kuminga's play over the next few weeks would change their current evaluation of him as an NBA player," Fischer wrote.
Kuminga's contract isn't going to be impossible to move because it can be seen as an expiring if a team doesn't want to pick up the option for next season. However, the young forward isn't going to be hugely valuable either, meaning the Warriors will need to add draft capital and other salary/assets if they want a piece in return that can make a sizable difference to their current fortunes.
After a promising start to the season that quickly faded, Kuminga is averaging 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 18 games, shooting 43.1% from the floor and 32% from 3-point range.