Jonathan Kuminga might be desperate to leave the Golden State Warriors this offseason, but the chances of that remain incredibly unlikely despite revived sign-and-trade talks with the Sacramento Kings.
The Kings have offered Malik Monk and a lottery protected first-round pick for Kuminga, yet the Warriors have little interest in the dynamic guard nor parting ways with Moses Moody or Buddy Hield in order to make the salaries work.
Jonathan Kuminga has one last ditch hope of getting traded
A third team would certainly have to get involved for a sign-and-trade to be completed, both because another party would have to take Hield/Moody and/or because they would have to be willing to move something Golden State finds more desirable than Monk.
The chances of that appear incredibly slim, but perhaps that changes as teams begin their official training camp or other mini camps the likes of which Jimmy Butler is hosting for his teammates (minus Kuminga) in San Diego.
According to Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer on Thursday, there’s a rather uncivil hope that an injury somewhere in the league could open an opportunity for an otherwise unforeseen sign-and-trade opportunity.
“There is some hope on Kuminga’s side, and Quentin Grimes’ side as well, that, knock on wood you don’t want anyone to get injured, but if there were to be another type of Fred VanVleet — someone’s out for the year who’s expected to be a starter injury — that comes up here, maybe that’s a last minute variable that could change opportunities for sign-and-trades for both of those players,” Fischer said.
This really isn’t the best avenue for a trade possibility to come about, but it might prove just how much Kuminga wants out of the Warriors — and also the high likelihood that he will indeed be back with the franchise to start his fifth year.
VanVleet’s devastating knee injury certainly won’t be impacting Kuminga’s future given they play a different position, yet it’s foreseeable (albeit unlikely) that a similar injury elsewhere could have a team come knocking for the former seventh overall pick.
Perhaps it would need to be a star player going down to incentivize the team to take a more rebuilding approach, and therefore willing to take a gamble on Kuminga’s upside without the priority of trying to win this season.
Even thinking about this is gross though and is a horror consideration, particularly when the league is already down multiple stars to start the season including Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving and Tyrese Haliburton.
