With the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline looming, several players are on the verge of being shipped to new teams.
One player to keep close tabs on is Jonathan Kuminga, who has missed the Warriors’ last 11 games with an ankle sprain. On Monday, the franchise announced that Kuminga will be re-evaluated in two weeks, meaning he’s unlikely to return to the court until late February.
The announcement also means Kuminga may have played his last game as a Warrior. It’s widely believed that the Warriors would have to trade Kuminga, their most prized asset, to land a star player ahead of the deadline. While Brandin Podziemski was once pegged as another key asset, the southpaw has seemingly lost a lot of trade value in light of his disastrous 2024-25 campaign.
As such, the Warriors may have no option but to move Kuminga if they plan to give Stephen Curry a co-star ahead of a playoff push. If the Warriors stand pat at the deadline, they face the realistic danger of missing the postseason for a second consecutive year.
Kuminga, a fourth-year forward, failed to reach a contract extension with the Warriors before the season, casting serious doubt over his future in San Francisco. Furthermore, he lost his starting role within the first few games and never reclaimed the spot despite producing back-to-back career-highs of 34 points in late December.
The Warriors are incidentally 4-9 without Kuminga and 18-14 with him in the lineup. Kuminga is averaging a career-high 16.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 made threes this season.
