What’s next for Warriors after new chapter unfolds in Jonathan Kuminga story

SAN FRANCISCO – Another chapter to the never-ending Jonathan Kuminga story unfolded, and the writing began a little more than an hour before he finally was back on the floor for the Warriors.Kuminga, on Jan. 15, the first day he officially could be traded, demanded to be moved by Golden State. The hope has always been a new home for one another. The demand was another public way of admitting just that, and Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy on Tuesday threw some not-so-subtle shade at Kuminga when responding to his trade request.“In terms of demands, when you make a demand, there needs to be a demand on the market,” Dunleavy said. “So we’ll see where that unfolds. … We’re good with it if that’s his wish, trying to figure that out, but we got to do what’s best for our organization and that’s what we’ll do.”Dunleavy seemingly said there hasn’t been demand for Kuminga around the league. Kuminga’s agent, Aaron Turner, responded to Dunleavy’s claim later in the night on X.As the Warriors’ 145-127 loss against the Toronto Raptors was coming to a close, Turner tweeted a screenshot of the Law of Demand while writing, “Demand is sensitive to price or playing time, So if a seller sees demand is low, lower the price point or let him play and demand will go (up emoji).” Demand is sensitive to price or playing time, So if a seller sees demand is low, lower the price point or let him play and demand will go #IUEconomicsMajor #Nationalchamps &commat;mcuban &commat;VicOladipo pic.twitter.com/41B72xzf3V — Aaron Turner (&commat;arockturner20) January 21, 2026 The point Turner clearly was trying to make is that if Dunleavy says there isn’t demand for his client on the trade market, you can’t blame the player, as he and his extremely tradable contract sit on the bench. Like last year when Steph Curry was injured from a hamstring strain in the second round of the playoffs, Warriors coach Steve Kerr turned to Kuminga out of happenstance, not preference. The Warriors played their first game Tuesday night since Jimmy Butler’s season-ending torn ACL the previous night and understandably got off to a very slow start and trailed by 13 points after the first quarter. Kerr used 11 players in the first quarter and the only ones who remained on the bench were his three players on two-way contracts and Kuminga. But Chase Center erupted when Kuminga walked onto the court to start the second quarter. He had to dust the cobwebs off in his first stint, missing both his free-throw attempts and wasn’t able to convert an alley-oop pass from Draymond Green. Then came the third quarter. With the Warriors down by 28 points, Kerr gave Kuminga his second go and he took off. Exactly nine seconds after coming back in, Kuminga on his second alley-oop try from Green, threw down a monster dunk. He scored 12 points in six minutes while the Warriors started to conduct an encouraging comeback. A driving floater that became a three-point play for Kuminga brought Warriors owner Joe Lacob out of his seat to celebrate with fans, serving high fives to those all around him. The smile Draymond and JK exchanged after their highlight slam was the feeling that felt lost the second Butler grabbed his knee and fell to the floor the night before: Joy. AIR CONGO pic.twitter.com/qOwQ04o4lM — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) January 21, 2026 Kerr stuck with Kuminga in the fourth quarter, too. The Warriors cut the deficit down to 11 points halfway through off a Kuminga floater. Kuminga scored eight points in the fourth quarter and was a team-high plus-13 in the second half. Playing his first game since getting nine and a half minutes against the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 18, Kuminga scored 20 points, all in the second half, in 21 minutes on 7-of-10 shooting. His 20 points were second to Buddy Hield’s 25 in the Warriors’ blowout loss, and Kuminga also grabbed five rebounds, finishing behind just Quinten Post (seven) and Green (six). The lack of playing time and counting healthy DNPs has not been a contributing factor to Kuminga’s standing on the trade market in Dunleavy’s eyes. “No concern,” Dunleavy said. He then no-commented the demand of Kuminga’s trade market, saying, “I’ll keep that to myself” to conclude his press conference. The Warriors signed Kuminga to a two-year, &dollar;48.5 million contract with a team option on the second season to end a long, drawn-out and frustrating summer of restricted free agency. Kuminga played great against the Los Angeles Lakers in the season opener. He scored 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting and had nine rebounds, six assists and a steal. He started the first 12 games of the season. And then was a healthy DNP a mere 26 days later. Kuminga played in one game after that first DNP for not even 10 minutes over 74 days. “I’m probably disappointed it hasn’t worked out better, but you know, it is what it is,” Dunleavy said. “Without getting into it too much, I think I have a pretty good understanding of what’s gone on. But there’s still, you know, there’s still time left here. He’s on our roster. I know a trade has been requested, but nothing’s imminent and things in this league can change in a heartbeat, as they did last night. “So he’s got to be ready and we’ll be ready.”Kuminga in the first chance he was given, a game where Kerr essentially was forced to play him without Butler and his team off to another slow start, proved to be ready. The Warriors now travel to Dallas to play the Mavericks, a team that has shown interest in Kuminga, to start a four-game road trip. They then play two straight games in Minnesota against the Timberwolves, the team that swept the Warriors without Curry while Kuminga averaged 24.3 points per game on 55.4 percent shooting with a 38.9 3-point percentage.There are 15 days left until the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline, and teams, per sources, have shown interest in Kuminga and will be monitoring what the Warriors plan to do with him over the next two weeks. One team that had been dormant on Kuminga already checked in. Kuminga’s trade demand hasn’t been pulled, but as Dunleavy said, things in this league can change in a heartbeat.Right when it feels like the Book of Kuminga can be closed, we’re given a new reason to turn the page with more being written.Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

What’s next for Warriors after new chapter unfolds in Jonathan Kuminga story

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