The Golden State Warriors officially ended the Jonathan Kuminga saga at the trade deadline by dealing him and Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis. The early returns from that trade are...less than ideal, but fans need to pump the brakes before declaring the trade a complete disaster.
So far, Porzingis has played in just one game for the Warriors. He looked quite good in that one game against the Boston Celtics, but since then he has been out with a mysterious illness and it's unclear when he's going to be back in action.
Meanwhile, Kuminga has played in Atlanta's last three games and has looked solid, scoring 17 or more points in each game and looking refreshed and rejuvenated now that he's on a new team.
Warriors cannot overreact to Jonathan Kuminga's hot start with Hawks
That's all well and good, but it's important to keep in mind who he's been playing against. His first two games were against the Washington Wizards and his most recent one was against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Wizards are one of the worst teams in the NBA and the Trail Blazers, while they seemingly always give the Warriors trouble, are not an elite team by any stretch.
Perhaps once Kuminga has to go up against some actually tough teams, fans won't so easily overreact and state that the Warriors lost the trade and/or call for head coach Steve Kerr's head in the process.
Golden State fans are familiar with the Kuminga roller coaster. He would have great stretches with the Warriors when it seemed like he was going to be a rotation fixture going forward, only to deliver some underwhelming performances that would have Kerr bench him.
Maybe the 23-year-old can break that cycle in Atlanta where he will be given more grace and will be allowed to play through his mistakes without having the pressure of playing on a team like the Warriors, with so many eyeballs on Stephen Curry and so much emphasis on maximizing the championship window.
Everyone wants to declare who won or lost a trade weeks after it happened, but the truth is we won't know for years. Perhaps Kuminga looks good the rest of this season but flames out, or his recurrent injuries become a lingering problem. Maybe Porzingis can get healthy and the Warriors decide to bring him back and he becomes a key part of next year's team.
It's east to overreact, but fans need to take a breath and realize that Kuminga's start may be nothing more than a mirage. The same mirage we have seen countless times before.