While Jonathan Kuminga is still very much on the trade block, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. remains unwilling to make a bad deal just to satisfy the forward’s trade demand, writes Anthony Slater of ESPN. According to Slater, multiple team sources have suggested to ESPN that Kuminga is less likely to be dealt in the wake of Jimmy Butler‘s season-ending ACL tear.
While that could just be posturing from a front office looking to regain leverage, there will presumably be less urgency in Golden State to make a win-now move using Kuminga’s salary, since Butler’s injury significantly limits the team’s ceiling this season. Additionally, head coach Steve Kerr spoke multiple times in the past about how he found it difficult to play Kuminga alongside Butler and Draymond Green due to spacing concerns — with Butler sidelined, there’s a clearer path to regular minutes for Kuminga.
On top of that, it remains to be seen whether any teams will make a serious play for Kuminga prior to the February 5 deadline. The Kings have been his top suitor for several months, but the Warriors have maintained that they aren’t interested in taking back a player owed money beyond this season, such as Malik Monk or DeMar DeRozan, Slater writes.
According to Slater, some Warriors sources are optimistic that Kuminga will be able to return from his knee injury and rejoin the rotation prior to the trade deadline, before the team has to make a decision on his future.
We have more trade rumors from around the NBA:
- Dave McMenamin of ESPN confirms that the Lakers have explored the possibility of trading their lone tradable first-round pick (in either 2031 or 2032) for multiple less valuable first-rounders, as previously reported. Phoenix made a similar move last season in a deal with Utah. The idea would be to give the Lakers more flexibility to make multiple trades using first-round picks, rather than waiting for the perfect opportunity to use their most valuable remaining draft asset.
- The Rockets raised eyebrows last summer when they made Clint Capela a priority in free agency, adding the veteran center to a frontcourt that already featured Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams. But with Adams facing an extended injury absence, Houston is once again mulling the possibility of adding another big man, either on the trade market or in the buyout market, Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports reports. The Rockets have a top-five offense this season in large part due to their NBA-best offensive rebounding numbers, which have been fueled by bigger lineups.
- While the Bulls have widely been regarded as probable deadline sellers, they’re only 1.5 games out of a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race, and Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report has heard from multiple sources that Chicago would like to improve its playoff chances this season. The Bulls also want to add young, athletic players who can become part of their core alongside Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis, Pincus adds.
- In an expansive trade deadline primer, ESPN’s Bobby Marks divides the NBA’s 30 teams into eight tiers, breaking down how each club will approach the deadline, along with their most notable assets.