Stephen Curry made it clear that he doesn’t want “desperate trades… that deplete the future” of the team. In fact, it wasn’t just him. Even Draymond Green went on record and solidified the stance by including Steve Kerr in the mix. Nevertheless, they are approaching the deadline, and we should expect the Bay to react, considering the season’s progress. Amid this situation, Warriors insider, Anthony Slater revealed the team’s possible trades and Jonathan Kuminga’s tricky situation that hangs on a thin thread amid internal conflict.

Before we look into the possible trade options ahead of the deadline, let’s take a look at the recent development in the 22-year-old rising star, Kuminga’s future. The power forward, currently sidelined with an ankle injury, is undoubtedly one of the promising gems. JK is in the last year of his 4-year $24.8 million rookie contract and will enter restricted free agency this summer.

While the Bay Area team has the upper hand in retaining him, there’s still an internal tussle regarding his extension. Reporter, Logan Murdock, revealed that Coach Kerr was apprehensive about extending the contract, citing his inconsistency, meanwhile, owner Joe Lacob, “is pushing to sign Kuminga to a big deal.” Amid this twisted internal conflict, Anthony Slater has now chimed in with a crucial update on Draymond Green‘s stance on the JK trade.

Featuring on the Run It Back show, Slater revealed how the team dropped trade negotiations whenever other teams asked for Jonathan Kuminga in return. He even cited the Lauri Markkanen example from the summer when the Bay was adamant about retaining their young crop. He further added, “Draymond on record said… It was basically the Markkanen situation that he told the front office like, ‘That might help right now, but that is just not a smart value trade, just trade everything away for you a solid fringe- All-Star type guy, this probably not going to carry your next championships.‘” 

So, Draymond Green basically warned the Bay team about the repercussions of trading Jonathan Kuminga and also made a strong stance on extending the 22-year-old’s contract. That brings up the next question…

Amid Draymond Green’s firm support for JK, who will the Dubs trade out?

Now that we know the team has secured Jonathan Kuminga‘s future, at least until the summer, let’s find out what we can expect from them ahead of the trade deadline. Even though the Bay seemed a little protective of JK in the trade market, it doesn’t seem to be the case for other players. Ahead of the trade deadline, the front office will be looking to free up the cap space and stack draft picks, according to Anthony Slater. And, in order to make it happen, the team has to let go of some of the expiring contracts.

So, Slater hinted at a few players, namely, “Gary Payton has $9 million expiring, Kevon Looney is at $8 million expiring.” Moreover, he also added Dennis Schroder to the list, who also has a $13 million expiring contract. The German player was added to the roster to aid the team alongside Stephen Curry and in the absence of the big guns as well. But after a slight sparkle initially, similar to Buddy Hield’s case, the consistency and hype around the two of them have faded away completely.

Nevertheless, the bottom line is- we can expect a trade in the coming days, which won’t necessarily stack the Bay team with a player but draft picks for the future. Who do you think will get traded now? JK? Let us know in the comments below.