Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga has reportedly demanded a trade ahead of the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater, Kuminga first became eligible to be traded on Thursday after signing a contract extension during the offseason, and he immediately asked to be dealt.
Charania and Slater noted that the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks have both shown interest in Kuminga, making them two of the most logical and likely landing spots for him.
“League sources said the Warriors have been prioritizing expiring contracts in return for Kuminga. They’ve declined the idea of taking back long-term contracts unless they view it as no-brainer positive value. That’s been the hold up in conversations with Sacramento,” according to Charania and Slater.
After showing immense promise over the past couple of seasons, Kuminga has clearly fallen out of favor within the Warriors’ organization during the 2025-26 campaign.
He has appeared in just 18 of the Warriors’ 44 games and is averaging 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest, while shooting 43.1 percent from the field and 32.0 percent from beyond the arc.
The 2021 No. 7 overall draft pick first broke out in 2023-24 when he averaged a career-high 16.1 points per game on 52.9 percent shooting. He followed that up last season with 15.3 points per game on 45.4 percent shooting.
Although Kuminga took a step back last season, he entered the offseason on a high note, as he averaged 24.3 points per game on 55.4 percent shooting in the four playoff games Stephen Curry missed during the Warriors’ second-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves last season.
While Kuminga was the subject of constant trade rumors during the offseason, he ultimately signed a two-year, $46.8 million contract with the Warriors as a restricted free agent.
Kuminga has not played in the Warriors’ past 13 games, though, and there is uncertainty regarding the real reasoning for why he hasn’t seen the floor.
Per The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II, Sam Amick and Nick Friedell, Kuminga was scratched on Jan. 2 due to lower back soreness, but “multiple team sources said they suspect Kuminga wasn’t actually hurt.”
An anonymous Warriors player followed up by saying they “wouldn’t have played either” because “it’s clear the coach doesn’t believe in him.”
Thompson, Amick and Friedell added that Warriors head coach Steve Kerr wanted the team to select Franz Wagner in the 2021 NBA draft, but owner Joe Lacob was “a driving force” behind the decision to draft Kuminga.
That perhaps suggests that Kerr has never been all in on the idea of Kuminga being a key player for the team.
The Kings have been linked to Kuminga since the offseason, and Thompson, Amick and Friedell reported that Warriors and Kings sources “acknowledge that a three-team deal is most likely if Kuminga is going to wind up with the Kings.”
The Brooklyn Nets have reportedly been part of the discussions with the idea of Michael Porter Jr. getting traded to Golden State as part of the deal.
However, Charania and Slater reported that the Warriors haven’t spoken with the Nets “in more than a month and have never shown real interest in a trade for” Porter.
Charania and Slater added that the Warriors prefer to get expiring contracts back in a trade involving Kuminga, so they have been against the idea of the Kings sending them Malik Monk as part of the deal.
Like the Kings, the Mavs seem to be entering into something of a rebuild, making them a team that could potentially accommodate Kuminga and give him more playing time.
Rookie No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg is clearly the present and future of the Mavericks, and if they move on from veteran big man Anthony Davis, as has been heavily rumored, it would open a spot in the starting lineup for Kuminga.
Thompson, Amick and Friedell also named the Los Angeles Lakers as a possible suitor for Kuminga, although they seem less likely to make a run at him than the Kings or Mavericks since they have little to offer in the way of draft picks or young players.
The Warriors are currently eighth in the Western Conference with a 22-19 record, and if they do not intend on utilizing Kuminga, they are best off moving on and trying to bring in a player or two who can help them right away since they are a veteran-laden team built to win now.
