Two-straight DNPs appears to have sealed Jonathan Kuminga's fate at the Golden State Warriors, with the fourth-year now expected to depart the franchise as a restricted free agent this offseason.
There's still time for things to turn around given the Warriors may need Kuminga's size and athleticism against the Houston Rockets in the first-round, but it otherwise looks like an increasingly untenable situation as the 22-year-old finds himself out of the rotation.
The Warriors can't let Jonathan Kuminga walk for nothing
The fortunate aspect is that Golden State still retain some control of the situation given Kuminga is restricted rather than unrestricted -- he can't simply walk to another team without the Warriors having some say and potentially matching an offer sheet.
Given Golden State used a top 10 pick on Kuminga and have had multiple opportunities where they could have trade him for real value, it would be a disaster to have him leave and receive nothing in return.
At that point it's less about retaining Kuminga specifically, and more about retaining the asset and the salary spot. Fortunately for Warrior fans, there should be some optimism that the franchise can salvage something from this based on recent history.
Even though Klay Thompson was unrestricted last offseason, Mike Dunleavy Jr. and the front office still parlayed the 5x All-Star into a sign-and-trade that saw them bring back Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson. Without the latter's salary, Golden State would have had a much harder time matching contracts in the subsequent Jimmy Butler trade.
As Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Chronicle recently outlined, this isn't a totally shocking situation to the Warriors and therefore you can easily envisage that Dunleavy is already working through possible options.
"Restricted free agency is complicated, so Mike Dunleavy would have to work through a lot of things to get something worthwhile in return for Kuminga. But the Warriors have had a lot of warning about this pending breakup. So has Kuminga. These last few games have merely been the public notice," Kawakami wrote.
The Warriors may not necessarily be able to get something of significant value, but as the Thompson-Anderson-Butler pathway proved, it might be more about the flexibility of being able to make another move later down the track.
Given Joe Lacob's love for Kuminga and his propensity to spend money on the roster when necessary, it is difficult to see the Warriors letting their young forward go without having a significant say.