Warriors' trade plans for Jonathan Kuminga revealed by NBA contract guru

Billy Heyen

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Warriors' trade plans for Jonathan Kuminga revealed by NBA contract guru image

The Golden State Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga, for a few weeks at the start of this season, seemed like they may have solved their differences.

That time appears to have passed, though.

The Warriors recently gave Kuminga his first DNP of the season. It appears only a matter of time until he's traded.

Kuminga can't actually be moved until mid-January because of when he signed his current contract, so the Warriors have about a month to figure things out.

Interestingly, Kuminga can be two different kinds of trade chips, which Spotrac's Keith Smith explained in a new article on Thursday.

"For the team itself, the Warriors are going to try to add some functional depth," Smith writes. "They need enough good players to get through the rest of the regular season, because they’ll need to manage their veterans. But then they need players who be a part of the eight- or nine-man rotation come playoff time too. That’s how Golden State will use Jonathan Kuminga: either to add depth to fill out the rotation, or as the main chunk of salary-matching to add one more star to their aging core."

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The latter path is the one that most have been rumoring about, that Kuminga will go the other direction in a deal that brings in a guy like Anthony Davis.

Golden State could take a different tact and simply move Kuminga for a rotation piece who actually wants to be on the Warriors, too. 

Sometimes, you win a trade by subtracting a player, and if that would be the case here for the Warriors, then they shouldn't worry quite as much about exact valuation and more so just make sure they find the right piece in return from a fit perspective.

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Editorial Team