Notable NBA analyst Bill Simmons labelled the Jonathan Kuminga situation at the Golden State Warriors 'catastrophic' only two days ago, questioning why any team would want to trade for the young forward ahead of the mid-season deadline.
However, there might be enough desperate teams where the Warriors are gifted an unlikely scenario of an actual bidding war for Kuminga, at least according to the latest trade reports from NBA insider Marc Stein.
Warriors reportedly have multiple teams interested in Jonathan Kuminga
Stein reports on Thursday that while the Chicago Bulls aren't believed to hold too much interest in Dallas Mavericks big man Anthony Davis, they should be regarded as a team to monitor for Kuminga once he becomes officially trade-eligible on January 15.
"Yet I was advised this week that Chicago should continue to be classified as a team to watch when it comes to Golden State's Jonathan Kuminga," Stein reported while referencing the Bulls' previous interest in the 23-year-old within trade discussions surrounding Alex Caruso, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic.
As much as Simmons and others may want to question how many teams are interested in the former seventh overall pick, this is now the third team this week who reportedly could look at a Kuminga trade.
Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area reported that the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns retain a level of interest in Kuminga, having been the two teams most linked to him during a long free agency standoff in the offseason.
The question remains on whether any of these three teams have or would offer something of value to Golden State. Vucevic remains at the Bulls and could foreseeably be on the table for Kuminga, but the emergence (particularly defensively) of Quinten Post should mitigate the Warriors' interest in the 2x All-Star.
Stein also reports that the Bulls are fielding trade interest in Coby White. While that's a notable name from a talent standpoint, Golden State's glut of guards already on the roster should reduce their interest in White compared to how other rivals may value the 25-year-old.
The Warriors should ultimately be going out as 'buyers' and using Kuminga's contract to achieve that goal, rather than simply selling him for a price that would indicate the team is in some kind of rebuild mode.
Still, it's nice to know that there will be multiple fall-back options if the Warriors can't find the player they want and are relegated to listening to offers from the Kings, Suns or Bulls.