Moses Moody's hot shooting to start the season not only pushed Jonathan Kuminga out of Steve Kerr's starting lineup on Wednesday night, but he might also be forcing his fellow 2021 lottery pick off the team completely if this maintains until the mid-season deadline.
Just two weeks after Steve Kerr confirmed he'd be a starter going forward, Kuminga was removed from the starting lineup against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night after a string of underwhelming individual and team performances.
Moses Moody might force the Warriors to trade Jonathan Kuminga
In fairness, Moody's shooting and general play won the starting role just as much as Kuminga lost it. It's easy to forget that the young wing was slated to be a starter early in preseason, before a minor calf injury dented those plans to which Kuminga took advantage.
Moody entered the game shooting a blistering 43.3% from 3-point range on 6.4 attempts per game, including going for 24 and 28 points in back-to-back games against the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings just last week.
The decision to insert Moody was justified immediately when he scored Golden State's first points of the game, while proving their only real source of offense early in the second-quarter with a series of 3-pointers. That proved incredibly crucial to the Warriors staying just close enough to allow Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler to take over in the second-half, with Moody finishing with 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc in a massive 125-120 victory.
Kuminga, meanwhile, played 12 first-half minutes off the bench and was rather conservative in relation to his usual self. He then exited the game with knee soreness at half-time, with plenty of fans quick to point out how well the Warriors played in the second-half without their former seventh overall pick.
Kuminga could still play a role off the bench for Golden State going forward, but if Moody is going to play well enough to keep him out of the starting lineup, then making better use of that $22.5 million salary spot has to be considered once he becomes trade eligible on January 15.
It's a shame to some degree given how positively Kuminga started the season, but it's also the reality based on this latest lineup decision. The hope for the 23-year-old is that there's still over two months until he can be traded, giving him plenty of time to rediscover a defined role and play at a level that forces the Warriors to keep him.