Warriors Insider Shares Message for 'Kuminga Stans'

Golden State Warriors insider Monte Poole shared a message for Jonathan Kuminga stans on Wednesday's episode of Dubs Talk.

"This is for the Kuminga stans," Poole said. "I understand the fascination with JK. But the rest of the league does not vibe with you. I mean, Kuminga is available and has been available for months. And the rest of the league is saying, 'Eh.'"

Poole added: "There are people who still question his ceiling. Too many people, I would say. And that's why nobody's knocking on Mike Dunleavy's door, ringing his phone [asking], 'Hey, what can I do to get Kuminga?'"

Poole continued: "The people who say Kuminga should be playing and could be a star on the Warriors and that the coaching staff messed him up ... if they are correct, then why doesn't the rest of the league see that?"

Poole isn't the only reporter getting intel that the Kuminga trade market isn't hot. On Tuesday, Jake Fischer said on a Bleacher Report Live stream that "there's not a very robust market" for Kuminga. Fischer added that the Kings and Lakers have shown some interest, but the players they'd send to Golden State don't appeal to the Warriors.

There are other teams that have been linked to Kuminga, but there hasn't been a report that suggests one team desperately wants him.

Kuminga became officially eligible to be traded at midnight ET on Jan. 15.

Kuminga's Value Tied to His Contract

The good news for the Warriors is other teams might not need to want Kuminga to trade for him. They might simply want more cap space this offseason, and Kuminga's contract is perfectly set up for that.

Kuminga is making $22.5 million this season and has a $24.3 million team option for the 2026-27 season. That means the team that acquires him can decline his option and let him become an unrestricted free agent.

That's why Kuminga has been linked to a trade with the Trail Blazers for Jerami Grant. The Blazers probably don't anticipate Kuminga being a core piece of their roster considering they already have ascendant young wings in Deni Avdija and Shaedon Sharpe. But they surely would love to get off Grant's contract—he's making $34.2 million next season and he has a player option for $36.4 million in 2027-28. So they'd be trading for Kuminga to use him as an expiring contract.

Meanwhile, the Kings are on the opposite end of the spectrum in that they actually want to give Kuminga an opportunity to be a core piece of their rebuild. They also likely love how his contract is set up, as they can exercise his team option to guarantee they don't lose him in free agency this offseason.

So the only silver lining in this Kuminga saga is that his contract just about guarantees he will be traded somewhere. Whether the Warriors get the kind of player they want in return, such as Brooklyn's Michael Porter Jr., is up for debate.

• Warriors Reportedly Not Interested in 2-Time All-Star Big for Kuminga
• Takeaways from Warriors' Win Over Blazers: Case for Avdija's All-Star Bid Strengthens
• Warriors Catch Break as 2 Blazers Starters Ruled Out
• NBA Exec Explains Why MPJ-to-Warriors Trade Is 'Hard to Line Up'