Golden State Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. reportedly values Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody highly and wants to hold onto them if possible.
“You also won’t see Jonathan Kuminga or Moses Moody, two young Golden State Warriors players who could be used to facilitate a deal for a star player,” Sam Vecenie wrote. “I don’t think the Warriors have ruled out moving them, but my impression, at least currently, is that they aren’t actively including them in potential trade packages either. League sources believe new general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. values both at a very high level and would love to hold onto them if he can, even if he also understands one or both may need to be the mechanism to facilitate much-needed changes with the slumping Warriors. It’s possible one or both of Kuminga and Moody feature on future iterations of this board, but that’s the reasoning I used to hold them off for now.”
While the Warriors aren’t looking to deal Moody or Kuminga, they are allegedly open to discussing deals about other players on their roster.
“The general feeling around the league is that the Warriors are open for business and are willing to discuss a variety of different players to shake things up after a rough start to the season,” Vecenie wrote. “However, Golden State is not enthusiastic about potentially moving youngsters Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, according to league sources not authorized to speak publicly. Neither is off the table if the right deal comes along, but it would be unfair to say they’re on the block at this stage, even as the Warriors look to alter their roster.”
Kuminga is in his third season with the Warriors franchise, who drafted him with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. In 38 appearances with Golden State so far during the 2023-24 regular season, he is averaging 13.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 51.4 percent from the floor and 31.3 percent from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, Moody — who was selected with the No. 14 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft — is also in his third season with the Warriors and averaging 8.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game while shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from outside the 3-point arc this season.
Moody sat out for the Warriors’ most recent game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 13, but Kuminga starred for Golden State. In 30 minutes of playing time, he dropped 28 points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block while shooting 10-of-18 from the field in what was one of his better performances of the 2023-24 regular season to this point.
The Warriors’ loss to the Bucks dropped their record to 18-21 on the season. The team currently sits as the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference and is three games behind the Phoenix Suns in the standings for the No. 8 seed in the conference.
Golden State will try to avoid picking up its second consecutive loss when the team takes on the Memphis Grizzlies on the road on Monday. The Grizzlies are right behind the Warriors in the standings as the No. 13 seed in the Western Conference and are riding a two-game losing streak, with their losses coming against the Los Angeles Clippers on Jan. 12 and New York Knicks on Jan. 13.
Hopefully for the Warriors, Kuminga will be able to continue his stretch of excellent play and score 20-plus points for the third game in a row versus the Grizzlies.
