Remaining competitive and limiting outside distractions will be the name of the game for the Golden State Warriors throughout the 2025-26 season.
Following their agreement to re-sign 23-year-old wing Jonathan Kuminga to a two-year, $48.5 million contract this offseason, fuel was only added to the fire that was their summerlong stalemate.
Golden State's general manager Mike Dunleavy will be hard at work scouring the trade market throughout the season to build a more suitable bench cast for their 37-year-old future Hall of Famer Stephen Curry, and one NBA writer has suggested that the Washington Wizards could be a perfect trade partner in a Kuminga deal.
"The offseason-long stalemate between Jonathan Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors may have come to a close, but the reporting on the deal made it pretty clear he could still be on the move soon," Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey wrote Thursday.
"And with (Kuminga's trade restriction) gone, the Warriors (or at least those outside the owner's box) would be thrilled to end the headache that Kuminga's tenure has become, add a good shooter and off-ball mover in Corey Kispert and regain full control of their own 2030 first-round pick."
"The Wizards, on the other hand, would add another intriguing young talent to a roster already loaded with them, giving the team one more chance at a legitimate future star."
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In a seemingly one-sided hypothetical trade, Bailey has the Warriors bringing in Washington's 6-foot-7 shooting wing Corey Kispert and reclaiming their own 2030 first-round pick while sending Kuminga to a young, rebuilding Wizards squad.
Though it may appear that the Warriors would lose this deal from a talent standpoint, the team would add yet another fantastic three-point threat around Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green while gaining a semblance of security for the future.
The 26-year-old Kispert has been a key outside shot-maker for the Wizards despite the team finishing with a bottom-5 percentage from distance in each of the past two seasons.
Admittedly, he did take a step back in efficiency throughout the 2024-25 season, but his career 38.2% three-point shooting clip in four seasons would give the Warriors a legitimate reason to pull the trigger on this deal.
In 61 appearances for the Wizards last year, Kispert contributed 11.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists on a solid 55.8% effective field goal percentage.
If Kispert were given the chance to space the floor for Curry and Co., it's plausible to believe that he'd easily be able to churn out several seasons of 40%-plus efficiency from three-point range. Simply put, the Wizards' former No. 15 overall pick from the 2021 NBA Draft is made for the Warriors' offensive system, and his skillset would do plenty to assist the team's aging core.
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