The Golden State Warriors technically still have time to play their hand before the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline, but are the Dubs already drawing dead? Jimmy Butler is stuck on the sidelines with a torn ACL and seemingly going nowhere, Jonathan Kuminga is also hurt now, and the trade market isn't offering anything close to the kind of help they need.
At this point, it's fair to wonder if the Warriors do anything during trade season. Because, as NBA insider Marc Stein noted on The All NBA Podcast, "realistically, there is no such trade" involving Kuminga that would give Golden State even a puncher's chance at conquering the Western Conference. Holding onto the bouncy swingman and hoping his market improves between now and the offseason "is at least somewhere on the board for the Warriors now."
It's a stunning, sobering chain of events that leaves Golden State with no obvious path forward.
Golden State might have to keep Kuminga until the offseason in hopes that his market value improves.
At a certain point in the not-so-distant past, Kuminga felt like one of the true trump cards in the trade market. As a 6'7", 225-pound toolshed with explosive athleticism and some drool-worthy flashes of shot-creation, he seemed like the kind of prized prospect rebuilders would be scrambling to get.
However, as time grew between him and his selection as the No. 7 pick of the 2021 draft, his market started to crater. The Warriors were always hesitant to give him major minutes, making it tricky to sell him as a potential helper to anyone else. If he wasn't finding major floor time in Golden State, why would possible trade partners expect anything different after a locker room change?
Prior to his latest bout with the injury bug, he was seeing the least amount of action since his sophomore season and not impacting the box score nearly enough when his number was called. There's no question he can score, but he can do within the confines of an offensive system built around other players? The Warriors have seemingly never thought so.
While it's easy to say a split would be best for all parties involved, his flat-lined value argues that isn't actually the case. Trading him for the sake of dodging this distraction wouldn't solve much for the Warriors, and anyone paying a deeply discounted price for Kuminga might not be inclined to play him much more than Golden State has.
So, a delayed divorce might suddenly be the best option on the board—even if that means no relief is coming for the Warriors or Kuminga ahead of the deadline. They have to figure out a way for this to (temporarily) work, because the trade market may not offer a helpful solution for the foreseeable future.