The Golden State Warriors‘ current five-game winning streak validates their decision to stand pat at the trade deadline.
They have passed up on opportunities to make a couple of moves, which ESPN senior writer Ramona Shelburne revealed on “NBA Today” on February 12, that would have cost them their rising star Jonathan Kuminga.
“They were down the road and had very serious conversations about Alex Caruso, about Kelly Olynyk. Teams were calling about Andrew Wiggins. He’d been playing a lot better and I think when it got down to it when I’m told, everybody asked for Jonathan Kuminga, and they essentially said, we are never trading Kuminga. He is untouchable,” Shelburne said.
“He’s where they needed him. But Andrew Wiggins’ recent play gave them encouragement that he could rebound into the [All-Star] form that he was in a couple of years ago when they won the title and they decided to stand pat.”
“[Warriors] had very serious conversations about Alex Caruso, Kelly Olynyk, teams were calling about Andrew Wiggins… Everybody asked for Jonathan Kuminga and they essentially said, ‘We are never trading him. He is untouchable.’”
– @ramonashelburne
Jonathan Kuminga-Andrew Wiggins Pairing Finally Working
Since The Athletic reported that Kuminga has lost faith in Steve Kerr which they subsequently patched things up, the Warriors young forward rose to become the team’s second-best player and has never looked back.
In 17 games since that report, Kuminga averaged 20.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 56.6% from the field and 40% on 3-pointers.
Draymond Green‘s return from his second suspension also connected the once unplayable Kuminga-Wiggins tandem.
Since Steve Kerr rolled the Kuminga-Wiggins-Green frontline on January 27 against the Los Angeles Lakers, Wiggins averaged 14.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting 54.2% from the field and 52.2% from deep.
They are 7-2 since Kerr committed to that new starting five.
That Kuminga-Wiggins-Green frontline is plus-15.9 with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, per Cleaning the Glass. And their net rating becomes a staggering plus-40.1 when rookie Brandin Podziemski replaces Thompson in that lineup.
Warriors Pay Tribute to Dejan Milojević With Big Win
In a fitting tribute to Dejan Milojević, the Warriors took an emotional 129-107 win on February 13 in their return to Salt Lake City where the assistant coach tragically died of a heart attack last month.
“We knew this trip was going to be tough all the way around, just the emotions coming back to a place where it happened, but it was definitely weird without Steve [Kerr],” Curry said via NBA.com. “It helped us to acknowledge and celebrate what they were doing and where they were at, and where they should have been. And then our ability to go out and allow the game to honor (Milojević) was good.”
Thompson turned back the clock with a vintage 26-point performance while Curry added 25 as the Warriors coped with their grief by doing what they know best.
Klay Thompson Willing to Sacrifice to Stay
Thompson hit 11 of 19 as he rebounded from a tough five-point outing in their thrilling win over Phoenix on February 10.
Before the game, The Ringer’s Logan Murdock ran a story that revealed Thompson is open to a reduced role to stay with the Warriors beyond this season.
“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Thompson told Murdock. “I’ll be 35 next year. At 35, coming off the ACL and an Achilles [tear] and still have the ability to be a really good player. Maybe not the guy who scored 60 in three quarters and scored an NBA record 37 points in a quarter, but still a great threat out there. I’ve modeled my game after Reggie [Miller] and Ray [Allen], and those guys were incredibly effective until their late 30s. So I plan on kind of following that mold.”
