Jonathan Kuminga's stock with the Golden State Warriors waxed and waned at a dizzying pace over the 23-year-old's time with the franchise. In the end, GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. was forced to sell low on the enigmatic wing.
If Dunleavy and his staff had watched the status of other trades for big-name, but flawed, stars, they might have been able to avoid selling Kuminga at the nadir of his value. In the end, Golden State was only able to move him in a package with Buddy Hield, who brought center Kristaps Porziņġis to the Bay. Porzingis' status as a pending free agent who struggles with availability minimizes any meaningful impact he might have for Steve Kerr's team moving forward.
Observing what the Hawks were ultimately forced to accept in a Trae Young deal would have been instructive for the Warriors front office. There was a time when league observers believed he had the offensive chops required to be a No. 1 option for teams with legitimate title aspirations. Young's star dimmed to the point where Atlanta was forced to accept a deal for two middling players just to get off the former lottery pick's salary.
The Chicago Bulls also could have offered a cautionary tale for Golden State. Their return of Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins and Tre Jones in last year's deal to offload Zach LaVine is nothing to write home about. Again, the biggest benefit for the Bulls was finding a way to get off of LaVine's bloated salary.
BREAKING: The Golden State Warriors are trading Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks for Kristaps Porzingis, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/eqNWwCupEZ
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2026
Did the Golden State Warriors get enough for Jonathan Kuminga?
The ultimate hope for Golden State is that getting rid of Kuminga will prove to be addition by subtraction. He had plenty of chances to work his way into Kerr's rotation but he never earned the trust of his head coach. Kuminga may play better outside the confines of Golden State's system but his future value to the Warriors was minimal.
That does not mean that getting Porzingis in return for him was enough. Golden State should have worked tirelessly to find a way to get an asset that might have some measure of future value for Kuminga. Those options might not have been available to the Warriors' front office this week, but they certainly were in the summer. That's the real front office malpractice for Golden State when it comes to Kuminga.
No NBA front office gets everything right, but this one has to go down as a pretty big failure for the Warriors. Their failure to cash in on Kuminga at the right time may cost the franchise its last opportunity to extend Steph Curry's timeline for title contention with the team. That's a bitter pill to swallow for fans who wanted to see one last ride with Curry at the helm of their beloved team.