Jonathan Kuminga’s Mysterious Absence Raises Major Trade Deadline Questions

Jonathan Kuminga began likely the most important week of his basketball career in a very comfortable seat Sunday night.

It didn’t matter that he had scored in double figures the last five times he took the court against the Hawks. Just like it didn’t matter that he’d had 24-point games against the Bucks and Kings earlier this season.

He sat out those rematches last week as well.

I’ve been around the NBA for a long time. Covered my first game in October of 1986. Chris Washburn started that night. Walter Davis starred. He has since died … of old age.

I have never seen anything like this.

Kuminga entered the NBA as an 18-year-old project. With no college experience, he got drafted ahead of Franz Wagner, Alperen Sengun, Jalen Johnson and Trey Murphy III.

It wasn’t long before people started talking about max-contract extensions. It’s what happens when you put up 25 points in a head-to-head with DeMar DeRozan and snatch 11 rebounds away from Giannis Antetokounmpo at age 19.

In 276 career games, Kuminga, still just 23, has scored 20 or more points 47 times. He’s grabbed 10 or more rebounds 11 times. He’s also found time for six-assist, four-steal and three-block games.

Among active players who have played 276 or fewer games, he ranks eighth in points and 18th in rebounds. In that fraternity, only Zion Williamson, Cade Cunningham, LaMelo Ball and Paolo Banchero have more points AND boards.

Dare we say: The guy is pretty good. Yet he rots on the bench of a team that’s barely .500.

The knock on Kuminga is he doesn’t play smart. He messes up defensive rotations and takes bad shots, often from beyond the 3-point arc, from where he’s a 33% shooter.

Not that it’s the greatest gauge in the analytics world, but Kuminga has played 6,121 minutes in his NBA career and the Warriors are 64 points better off in terms of plus/minus. So it’s not like he’s killing them.

He’s healthy, certainly well rested and by all accounts has kept a positive attitude. Jimmy Butler III speaks highly of him. And Draymond Green has never punched him, which says something.

By rule, Kuminga cannot be traded until Jan. 15, but that is now just hours away. 

Three questions persist:

• Will the Warriors be able to trade him?
• What might they get in return?
• Is it possible they’ve already agreed to a deal?

Let’s start with the latter, which actually makes some sense. If this were baseball and a guy were being kept out – even in blowouts – for no apparent reason, you might assume the acquiring team was insisting upon it until the deal could be finalized.

I’ve never heard of this happening in basketball, but is it possible? It sure would explain the last three weeks.

Trading Kuminga could involve another Warrior and/or bring back multiple players in return. It’s complicated, but that only adds to the possibilities.

Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy has had months to thoroughly examine all options, talk to every counterpart in every front office coast to coast, even listen to every gripe from the agent of every player who wants out of his current situation and would surely flourish next to Stephen Curry.

So far … crickets. But that’s OK, because no deal is allowed until Thursday.

But there’s been no shocker from Shams. In fact, nothing from any insider. Heck, even Stephen A. has been silenced.

What could the Warriors reasonably get for Kuminga? Glad you asked.

In order to be traded straight up for a guy making $22.5 million, the Warriors could take back as little as about $17 million in salary and as much as about $28 million.

As we stand, there are 42 players – not counting Kuminga and teammate Draymond Green – who earn in that pay range this season. We should probably throw out Terry Rozier as well. So that makes 41.

If we restrict our search to rebuilding (or soon to be rebuilding) teams, and only consider guys 28 or older – the types of players rebuilders are more likely to give up – on those clubs, we are left with:

Zach Collins and Nikola Vucevic of the Bulls, Malik Monk and DeRozan of the Kings, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope of the Grizzlies and Jusuf Nurkic of the Jazz. The Suns’ Grayson Allen and Dillon Brooks would also qualify, but is Phoenix rebuilding?

And then there’s Klay Thompson of the Mavericks, who just misses the salary window and would require the draft rights to Olivier-Maxence Prosper be thrown in.

Wouldn’t that be interesting?

See anything you like? More importantly, I gotta believe Dunleavy does.

At this point, any of the above might suffice.

Stay tuned. This outsider says something is imminent.