The Golden State Warriors' recent offseason was marred by the Jonathan Kuminga stand-off. As the trade deadline approaches, it seems as though not much has changed.
Kuminga has been allowed on the court for just nine minutes over the team's last 14 games. His trade value yet again sits in a strange limbo, and this season, at the very least, has done nothing to resuscitate it.
While bringing Kuminga back on a two-year contract provides them with a much-needed trade chip, their inability to trade him in the offseason has been something that's loomed over the team.
In many ways, this failure can be blamed on their initial unwillingness to move the contracts of Moses Moody and Buddy Hield: a hesitancy they surely regret right now.
Buddy Hield is not only unmovable, but he's left the Warriors in an almost unescapable predicament
In his first season with the Warriors, Hield was highly important to the team's offensive structure despite his inconsistent play. He averaged 11.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists while shooting 37% from 3-point range.
This season, that production has fallen off a cliff. Across 32 games, he's averaging 7.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists while shooting 32.4% from beyond the arc. He's received DNPs in six of Golden State's last 10 games.
This past offseason, the team refused to move him or Moody to ensure they had enough shooting on the roster to complement Stephen Curry. However, this prevented them from pairing either of those contracts with Kuminga's in a sign-and-trade.
Granted, the options they had for a Kuminga trade this past offseason were limited, at least to the public eye. Who knows what might have shaken out, however, if the organization was willing to aggregate the salaries necessary to make a needle-moving trade?
Holding onto Moody made sense. He had a great run at the end of last season, and his combined youth and defensive acumen make him a valuable fit on the Warriors.
Hield, however, is on the second year of a four-year, $38 million contract that is looking worse and worse by the day. Were he still a viable rotation player, that would be a valuable trade chip.
As of now, he is not.
They are now stuck with both Hield and Kuminga on the roster, and neither player is contributing very effectively to the team's success.
If they are able to pull off a blockbuster trade over the next four weeks using these contracts, their offseason stance will have paid off. For the time being, it seems like they might have made a major mistake.