After losing Jimmy Butler to a season-ending knee injury on Monday, the Warriors’ trade deadline plans have shifted. With the NBA’s Feb. 5 deadline looming ever closer, Golden State is under pressure to maximize what they can do this season; the Warriors have a 12-5 record in their last 17 games, and they had the look of a championship contender before Butler went down.
Butler, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are all on contracts that expire after next season. Head coach Steve Kerr could leave at the end of the current season, when his contract expires. If Golden State wants to get another star, the time is now.
But a Yahoo Sports mock trade predicts that the Warriors can acquire two future Hall of Fame inductees if they agree to dangle Butler’s contract.
Reuniting Curry and Thompson for one more championship run would “do right by” Curry, Haberstroh writes, while bringing Davis to the Bay would give the Warriors a defensive anchor who is under contract for only one more year.
Curry, Green and Thompson have won four championships together. Pulling off this trade and emerging from the loaded Western Conference to do it again would be a big challenge — but one that all parties involved would be up for.
Just as Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga was finding a groove, he found himself back on the bench, this time because of left knee soreness that he sustained, along with a twisted left ankle, on a second-quarter drive during a 123-115 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.
While Kuminga briefly remained in the game, he hit the locker room before halftime and didn’t return to action. He’s dealing with a minor knee hyperextension, according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater, who reported that the injury isn’t believed to be serious.
Butler’s absence opened the door for Kuminga to play again. Kuminga, whom the Warriors selected No. 7 overall in the 2021 draft, endured a contract dispute this offseason. Then he requested a trade last week after being relegated to the Warriors’ bench.
But, after 16 straight DNPs, Kuminga was firmly back in the rotation. He went for 20 points in 21 minutes Tuesday in a loss to the Toronto Raptors and was following up that performance with another head-turning outing versus the Mavericks (19-26), who have now won four games in a row.
Kuminga checked in with 5:04 to go in the first quarter and immediately ignited an 8-0 Warriors run that he fueled with a pair of and-1s, the first on a jumper and the next on a layup.
That flurry of points gave Golden State (25-21) a lead. Steve Kerr’s group recovered after missing its first six shots. It took nearly six minutes for a Warriors player not named Stephen Curry to put the ball through the net.
In fact, Curry converted three of his first four field-goal attempts — all three makes were from deep, including a 28-footer — while his teammates began the night 0 of 8 from the field.