A 123-115 loss to the Dallas Mavericks has been further soured by another injury concern for the Golden State Warriors, with Jonathan Kuminga exiting during the first-half with a left leg injury.
Kuminga came up hobbling after turning his left ankle and hyper-extending his knee on a drive to the rim, further complicating his trade request ahead of next month's February 5 deadline.
Jonathan Kuminga injured in second-straight Warriors loss
Kuminga had only just returned to the rotation in the wake of Jimmy Butler's season-ending knee injury, and the young forward was in the middle of an impressive stretch where his athleticism was well and truly on display.
After scoring 20 points in the second-half of Tuesday's loss against the Toronto Raptors, Kuminga had 10 points in less than 10 minutes on 3-of-3 shooting against the Mavericks. He had a pair of and-ones in his opening minutes on the floor, converting all four of his free-throws and also connecting on an alley-oop dunk from Brandin Podziemski.
The good news is that the injury isn't considered serious, but it just adds another wrinkle to an already delicate situation. Part of the reason Kuminga had been out of the rotation was for an instance such as this where an injury impacted a potential trade before the deadline.
Jonathan Kuminga is OUT for the game after suffering a left leg injury
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 23, 2026
10 PTS
2 AST
2 STL
100% FG
9 MIN
He was having a great night before exiting 👀 pic.twitter.com/ZnI6SJ0DDa
The Warriors were a +18 in Kuminga's minutes, only behind De'Anthony Melton who continues to impress in the second unit despite the absence of Butler. The 27-year-old had 22 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in just over 23 minutes, shooting 9-of-15 from the floor in the eight-point loss.
With Melton coming off the bench and Kuminga sidelined, Stephen Curry was a one-man band for much of the second-half. The 2x MVP had a game-high 38 points on 8-of-15 shooting from 3-point range, but only Melton, Kuminga and Moses Moody (12 points) also reached double figures.
It represents the sort of problems the Warriors will likely continue to have without Butler, with even more falling on Curry and particularly if Kuminga now misses anytime. It puts even more pressure on the front office to make the right decisions ahead of the trade deadline, otherwise the load on Curry may reach exorbitant levels for a soon to be 38-year-old.
Draymond Green fouled out in less than 24 minutes on Thursday, committing four personals in a short span during the fourth-quarter. Golden State led 96-88 early in the final period, but were ultimately destroyed by a 25-5 Dallas run that flipped the game on its head.
The Warriors now head to Minnesota for two games against the Timberwolves which they'll almost certainly enter as underdogs after falling to 25-21 on the season.