Jonathan Kuminga made life much easier for the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.
In addition to becoming trade eligible, Kuminga reportedly made it clear that he has no choice in remaining with the Dubs beyond the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
Unfortunately for the Dubs, though, swapping Kuminga for Michael Porter Jr., one of the franchise’s top targets, doesn’t seem to be a realistic transaction for the franchise.
“League sources said the Warriors have been prioritizing expiring contracts in return for Kuminga,” ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Thursday. “They've declined the idea of taking back long-term contracts unless they view it as a no-brainer positive value.”
“That has been the holdup in conversations with Sacramento. The Warriors refuse to absorb the three years and $60.4 million remaining on Malik Monk's deal, though league sources said Keon Ellis (on a cheap expiring deal) is a potential sweetener of interest to them.”
“As of this week, the Warriors hadn't talked to the Brooklyn Nets in more than a month and have never shown real interest in a trade for wing Michael Porter Jr., league sources said.”
Why is Charania’s report bad news for the Warriors? Well, Porter is considered a perfect fit with the seven-time NBA champions due to his ability to stretch the floor with the best of them (he’s a 40.6% career three-point shooter and boasts a 40.1% long-range shooting percentage with the Nets this season).
Why wouldn’t the Warriors want to add a prolific perimeter shooting threat who would play complementary basketball alongside Stephen Curry nightly, right?
Well, for whatever reason, Porter doesn’t appeal to the Dubs, causing fans to scratch their heads and express their concerns with the organization’s trade plans.
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