One NBA executive thinks that the Golden State Warriors are near a breaking point of having to trade young forward Jonathan Kuminga.
Kuminga, 21, was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
“It has always been, ‘No,’ on him,” one NBA executive told Heavy Sports. “It’s always, ‘We’re not trading him, move on.’ But how long can they stick with that, if he is not going to be a guy they rely on and he is not going to be happy in that role? There is going to be a breaking point. And I think they’re getting near that point where they have to say, we need to move him get help now. It has not happened yet. But give it a month. Everybody’s got their eye on that.”
The Warriors are just 6-8 this season, and they’ve lost six consecutive games. The team did lose guard Stephen Curry for two games to a knee injury, but the team lost on Saturday night even with him back in the rotation.
Curry has been solid this season, but the Warriors have not gotten much from their other contributors on offense. Klay Thompson is shooting just 40.0 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from 3-point range this season while averaging 14.0 points per game.
He isn’t the only Warrior that is struggling, as forward Andrew Wiggins is averaging just 12.0 points per game while shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Kuminga has mainly played a bench role for the Warriors this season, starting just one game. He’s averaging 12.3 points in 20.6 minutes per game.
Golden State hasn’t given Kuminga a bigger role this season (20.8 minutes per game last season), and the team may need to move him to bring some more help for Curry if it wants to win this season.
Kuminga certainly has a ton of talent, but he hasn’t been able to put it together enough to become a nightly starter for Golden State. He may be better off with a change of scenery on a team that allows him to blossom more.
The Warriors won the title in the 2021-22 season, but with Thompson, Draymond Green and Chris Paul all aging, Golden State doesn’t have a large window to win another title around Curry.
The team may need to consider moving a young player like Kuminga to improve the roster, especially if he’s only going to be a bench piece this season.
The Warriors made the playoffs last season, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round. Curry is still playing at an elite level, but he may need more help if Wiggins and Thompson can’t start shooting the ball at a more efficient rate.
