'I’ve Never Got That Chance': Should Milwaukee Bucks Give Jonathan Kuminga Shot To Shine in 2025-26?

It’s impossible to deny, though, that there may be untapped talent in his bag. After he took a step forward two years ago, at least in volume production, his regression last season was puzzling. Especially after the Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler, another 6-foot-7-ish forward with shooting issues, he lost his place in the rotation. He hardly played in the first round against Houston.

When Steph Curry got hurt in round two versus Minnesota, however, Kuminga emerged as arguably the team’s best offensive contributor. Over the final four games, he averaged 24.3 points on 55.4% shooting and went 7-18 from distance.

Clearly he still believes in himself. Per NBA Central and The Athletic’s Anthony Slater:

I feel like I’m at the point where that has to be my priority, to just be one of the guys a team relies on. Aiming to be an All-Star. Multiple times. Aiming to be great. … Wherever I’m going to be at, it don’t matter if it’s the Warriors or if it’s anywhere else, it’s something I want. I want to see what I could do. I know I got it. So I want to really see. I’ve never got that chance.

The issue with his potential fit on the Bucks is that they already have brick-chucking forward in Kyle Kuzma. Last season they shared very similar shooting splits. With Giannis Antetokounmpo occupying power forward, Milwaukee can’t afford to trot out a slew of players largely ineffective beyond the arc. Spacing would become clogged, the offense stagnant.

Because Kuzma and Kuminga have such similar profiles, it would only be redundant to roster both, even bringing one off the bench. It would be impossible to avoid playing them together when both should average around 25 minutes a night. Obviously, Kuminga has way more upside, but the only way the Bucks could realistically acquire him is by dumping Kuzma – either in a separate trade or as part of a deal to bring in the former.

Milwaukee Bucks Should Proceed with Caution in Exploring Kuminga Deal

Based on the rumor mill the most likely Kuminga scenario, wherever he goes, is a sign-and-trade. He made $7.6 million last season playing on a team option, but has shown enough to merit a double-digit APY. The receiving team would need to evaluate their books and financial future accordingly.

From the Bucks’ perspective, Kuzma-for-Kuminga in a sign-and-trade would be a no-brainer exchange in itself, but they would have to send other stuff out. For the same reasons the Warriors aren’t thrilled about Kuminga’s roster fit, they probably wouldn’t be interested in Kuzma. That means Milwaukee would have to recruit a third team to take him in. Ideally, the third team would provide players the Warriors actually want.

While it would take some finagling, pulling off the above swap is certainly possible. Maybe Kuminga would blossom as a second or third option in Milwaukee as Damian Lillard remains out. On the other hand, maybe he’s had his chance in Golden State – with 258 games played, he hasn’t been bench-rotting the whole time. He’s only 22, but maybe he’s already shown who he is, a sub-All-Star with possible attitude problems: Kyle Kuzma, but seven years younger and in a different font.

With how poorly the latter has fit the Bucks’ roster, giving up valuable draft assets or role players for Kuminga doesn’t make much sense. If GM Jon Horst does give the Warriors a call and they ask for AJ Green or a first-round pick, he should hang up immediately.