The Golden State Warriors are looking to blaze a trail up the Western Conference standings, and they are coming off a hard-fought 119-116 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night. It’s clear that Stephen Curry still has a lot of gas left in the tank, and Jimmy Butler is dispelling allegations that he is already over the hill. But it’s evident that the Dubs have an urgent trade to make, seeing Jonathan Kuminga out the door.
This is not to say that Kuminga is not a talented young player who could become a key piece of a winning team someday. He’s just incompatible sometimes with the way the Warriors play; whenever Curry is healthy, the Dubs focus on ball and player movement to score, preferring to keep dribbling to a minimum. Meanwhile, Kuminga is a slasher and shot-creator from midrange who needs the ball in his hands to thrive.
That made him such a valuable player for the Warriors in last season’s playoffs when Curry went down with an injury. But the Dubs won’t even make it very far in the first place if Curry were to go to the mend.
The Warriors are in the business of optimizing their roster around Curry. And Curry, being 37 years of age already, is not going to be around for very long. Kuminga could very well stick it out and wait for his chance when Curry hangs it up, but he’s already waited for an opportunity all his career and he’s currently racking up DNPs — not exactly an ideal scenario for him.
To that end, the Warriors must find a Kuminga trade that’s suitable for them and won’t cost them too many assets moving forward.
Warriors trade for battle-tested former NBA champion
Warriors acquire: Michael Porter Jr., Haywood Highsmith
Nets acquire: Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Buddy Hield, 2028 GSW first-round pick (top-three protected)
[Trade is legal on January 15, 2026.]
Brad Penner-Imagn Images
The Warriors are reportedly setting their sights on an upgrade on the wings; having 3-and-D wings who could survive multiple playoff rounds without being played off the court is a crucial recipe for championship success. Golden State, of all teams, would know of this firsthand.
Kuminga is someone who racks up DNPs for the Warriors, and he is someone who most likely never will find his footing under head coach Steve Kerr. Turning him into someone like Trey Murphy or Herb Jones would be a herculean task that would require giving up multiple first-round picks.
With Curry on the roster right now, the Warriors are 14-15 on the season. Suffice to say, things can get ugly very quickly for them in the near future. An injury to either Curry or Butler (knock on wood) automatically knocks them out of title contention, if they were in contention in the first place.
This is what would prevent the Warriors from paying the heavy price that the New Orleans Pelicans will require in any Murphy or Jones trade. Murphy is a cost-controlled budding star who thrives playing off-ball. He’s a 25-year-old wing who’s averaging over 20 points per game, and New Orleans won’t be wrong if they demand close to the return that Desmond Bane or Mikal Bridges netted for the Memphis Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets, respectively.
Jones, meanwhile, will be in high demand considering how easy it would be to slot him into every lineup. He’s also one of the best defenders in the league, and any contender will be seeing him as an Alex Caruso-type addition.
So the Warriors will have to find a player who can sufficiently move the needle for them without requiring them to mortgage their future. Enter Nets forward Michael Porter Jr.
The Nets acquired Porter this past offseason in a trade that netted them a 2032 first-round pick from the Denver Nuggets, with Cam Johnson going to the Mile High City in return. Porter has become the first option in Brooklyn, and he’s producing as a result.
Porter is currently averaging 25.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game on 49/40/82 shooting splits; it’s not too often that a player maintains or even improves their efficiency when they take on a larger scoring load, but Porter has done just that for the Nets.
The Nets can demand a high price for Porter all they want. But Porter is making $38 million this season, and the league will know that his stats are inflated due to his huge role in Brooklyn. Nonetheless, he provides so much of what the Warriors need without needing them to break the bank.
Porter is an excellent rebounder for a small forward, and the Dubs need any help they can get in that aspect of the game. With his experience playing alongside Nikola Jokic, he knows how to move off the ball and knows when to pick his spots off of dribble handoffs or pindowns. And the Warriors will be getting another difficult shot-maker if they were to trade for Porter; he can be an option late in the clock when defenses zero in on Curry.
The Nets have expressed interest in Kuminga in the past, so perhaps Brooklyn will be interested in him as the primary return in any Porter trade. But considering how unproductive he’s been this year, the Warriors will have to part ways with a 2028 first-round pick. That pick may find itself in the lottery considering that Curry will be 40 years of age by then, but it’s not too far out in the future where the Dubs will be feeling the long-term effects of such a transaction.
The most difficult part of this trade for the Dubs is that they would have to part ways with Moses Moody just to make salary-matching that much easier. However, Moody has not exactly been a huge part of the Warriors rotation in recent games, and the Dubs have the likes of Brandin Podziemski, De’Anthony Melton, and Will Richard to fill in the minutes at the two or the three.
Buddy Hield has been out of the rotation for the Dubs as of late, and his $9.2 million salary is easy to include as fodder. In return, the Warriors will be getting Haywood Highsmith as well. Highsmith hasn’t played at all this season and may not play until after the trade deadline, but he is the prototypical bench 3-and-D wing who could come in handy in a playoff setting.