The Golden State Warriors had serious conversations with the Indiana Pacers about trading forward Jonathan Kuminga, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.
The Warriors and Pacers didn’t make a trade during the 2023 draft, but Golden State could still move Kuminga this summer.
“Golden State also held serious conversations with Indiana about trading Jonathan Kuminga, the No. 7 pick in the 2021 draft, for a package centered around the No. 7 pick on Thursday, sources said,” Fischer wrote. “Perhaps the Warriors could still move the 20-year-old forward this offseason.”
Kuminga appeared in 67 games for the Warriors this past season. He averaged 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting 52.5% from the field, 37.0% from beyond the arc and 65.2% from the free-throw line.
The Warriors lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2023 Western Conference Semifinals in six games after winning the championship last year against the Boston Celtics. Kuminga only played in 10 postseason games this year, averaging 3.4 points.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State Warriors & Indiana Pacers Updates
Golden State drafted Kuminga with the seventh overall pick in the 2021 draft. It is widely believed within NBA circles that Kuminga would like to be traded by the Warriors to a team who will play him more minutes despite Steve Kerr’s comments about him.
“I think JK had a really good year,” Kerr said on Tim Kawakami’s podcast with The Athletic. “You look at the regular season and he had a lot of good moments. The last 30 games or so with (Andrew) Wiggins out, it really thrust JK into a more prominent role. And he took advantage of that. He played well, helped us win some games.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State Warriors & Indiana Pacers Updates
“I think the main thing that happened in the playoffs was that Wigs was back and we had Gary Payton and those guys basically were filling the role that JK had been filling while they were gone. And there’s just more experience and more, I think, intuitive knowledge of the NBA and awareness from those guys, as you would expect; they’re much older and they’ve got a lot more experience.”
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