The Warriors suffered a major blow earlier this week, losing Jimmy Butler to a season-ending ACL injury. Butler’s absence likely takes Golden State out of title contention this season, barring a significant move at the upcoming trade deadline. It also puts an even brighter spotlight on Jonathan Kuminga, who is both the most likely Warrior to be moved in a deal and a player the team may now need to lean on in Butler’s absence.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reiterated Sacramento’s interest in Kuminga in his report on Butler’s injury, and floated the idea that the Warriors might now be interested in a veteran scorer like DeMar DeRozan in return. Personally, this sounded more like Charania speculating and name-dropping than reporting concrete interest. While DeRozan would provide scoring punch, he does little to replace the defensive intensity and versatility Butler brings. Still, the idea is arguably more appealing now than it was over the summer, and perhaps DeRozan could serve as enough of a stopgap to keep the Warriors competitive. Offensively, DeRozan is a similar enough player to Butler that the Warriors shouldn’t see much of a drop-off on that end at least.
For their part, the Warriors appear to be messaging that their preferred course of action is to keep Kuminga and allow him to rebuild his trade value. That feels more like posturing than a real plan, given Kuminga’s very public frustration with the organization and his recent trade demand. General manager Mike Dunleavy added fuel to that fire when he said, “In terms of demands, when you make a demand, there needs to be demand on the market.” It’s a blunt way of suggesting there isn’t much interest in Kuminga, which contradicts multiple reports. In reality, the Warriors simply aren’t satisfied with the offers they’ve received—and continuing to bench Kuminga while publicly diminishing his value isn’t helping their leverage.
For what it’s worth, the Warriors finally played Kuminga last night after 16 straight DNP-CDs, though he did not start. Coming off the bench, he scored 20 points in 21 minutes on an efficient 7-of-10 shooting. Maybe Butler’s injury finally opens the door for the opportunity Kuminga has been seeking, and perhaps he breaks out. Even so, it feels almost certain he won’t re-sign with the Warriors long term. At this point, it’s a matter of when, not if, Golden State decides to trade him. It likely won’t be for DeRozan alone, but a package centered around DeRozan and Keon Ellis could become appealing as the trade deadline approaches in a couple of weeks.