Jonathan Kuminga predicted to ruin Warriors' season after blockbuster trade originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Golden State Warriors ended the Jonathan Kuminga experiment in the Bay on Feb. 4
The franchise traded Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks for Kristaps Porzingis. Shortly after the trade, ESPN’s Anthony Slater released a bombshell Warriors report that proved that there was legitimate tension between Kuminga and head coach Steve Kerr.
In Blue Man Hoop’s Jordanna Clark’s opinion, Kuminga will have a chance to ruin the Warriors’ 2025-26 season in an interesting fashion.
“Jonathan Kuminga could further ruin Warriors' season without even being on the team,” Clark wrote Wednesday.
“Jonathan Kuminga will have to wait a little longer to make his Hawks debut after the Golden State Warriors finally traded him, as Atlanta announced on Wednesday that his knee will be re-evaluated in a week. When he does play again, though, he will have the chance to prove the doubters in his former organization wrong.”
“If he manages to do so in a short span of time, as the end of the regular season is less than two months away, it will be yet another tough blow to the Warriors' season.”
“Kuminga hasn't played in almost a month since getting injured, but he does have a history of making an immediate impact, like he did when he scored 20 points against the Raptors in his first game in over a month.”
A motivated Kuminga could be bad news for the Warriors. If the 23-year-old NBA champion guard plays high-level basketball with the Hawks moving forward, there’s no question it would be an awful look for the 17-time NBA champions.
Specifically, it would make the Warriors appear incompetent to some degree, as they were unable to do what the Hawks did in less time: properly utilize/develop Kuminga.
Although it’s unlikely Kuminga will play well enough to help Atlanta reach the postseason (they’re currently the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference), he could make the Warriors look foolish for mishandling his situation with the organization.
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