Jonathan Kuminga's days with the Golden State Warriors might be numbered. Like, specifically numbered.
Now that the 23-year-old swingman has once again fallen out of Steve Kerr's rotation, it seems a near certainty the Warriors will shop Kuminga as soon as he becomes trade-eligible on Jan. 15. ESPN's Anthony Slater recently characterized the chances of a Kuminga trade as "strong," and it's fair to wonder whether that report was wordly strongly enough.
Warriors have perfect Jonathan Kuminga trade to make from January 15
Especially with the perfect trade pitch involving Kuminga staring them—and all of you here—right in the face.
Warriors fans (and front office members) may have hoped Kuminga would be the key to landing a bigger fish, but his recent benching and the struggles that preceded it may have taken that option off the table. His standalone trade value isn't strong enough to bring Andrew Wiggins back to the Bay, and Kuminga can't be seen as more than a slight sweetener for any Giannis Antetokounmpo offers.
Kuminga could, however, serve as a niche need-filler. It'd still take the right suitor to make that happen, but maybe the Sacramento Kings are that team. They were mentioned quite a bit during offseason sign-and-trade talks, and they should be even more focused on adding youth now that their season has already spiraled out of control.
And, honestly, the need for youth in Sacramento is strong enough that it's not even worth discussing the potential fits of Kuminga or Trayce Jackson-Davis. The Kings, who are unintentionally tanking harder than several presumed tankers, have 30-somethings filling the top four spots in terms of minutes played. With 2024 lottery pick Devin Carter perhaps already being out of the long-term plans, Sacramento might have Keegan Murray and no one else around for the long haul.
The Kings are exactly the kind of team that can and should be willing to wager on Kuminga's raw talent. Especially when this trade offer would see them make that gamble without giving up a first-round pick. Plus, they'd fetch the bouncy TJD to add to their center mix in case Domantas Sabonis gets traded away or rookie second-rounder Maxime Raynaud needs more competition.
The Warriors, meanwhile, would get a plug-and-play 3-and-D wing in Keon Ellis, plus an ignitable scorer in Malik Monk and three second-round picks to potentially beef-up future trade packages. Again, Golden State fans might be thinking, "Wait, that's it?", but honestly, yeah. In fact, the draft capital changing hands would be far less about the loss of Kuminga and more about cushioning the blow of adding Monk's contract (two years, $41.8 million remaining after this season, per Spotrac).
Golden State should be OK with taking back that contract, because it would still have a mid-sized salary at its disposal to help fuel further trades. Plus, Monk's off-the-dribble creativity and athleticism would add different elements to this perimeter attack for as long as he stuck around.
The real prize, though, would be Ellis, a relentless on-ball defender with a 42.5 career splash rate from three. He has been strangely squeezed for playing time this season, but that maybe says more about Sacramento's decision-making than it does any noticeable decline in his play. His shooting rates are down, but that might be a reflection of his nightly role changes more than anything.
He'd be a helpful addition to the wing rotation. The second-rounders could be helpful pieces to sweeten separate trade offers. And Monk might be helpful as both a bucket-better and a money-matcher.
This wouldn't be an earth-shattering, fortune-changing type of trade, but the Warriors aren't finding anything close to that type of offer for Kuminga at this point. So, getting a few useful rotation pieces and a couple of draft picks just might be the best way of doing business.