Jonathan Kuminga's situation with the Golden State Warriors has been one of the most bizarre situations to monitor over the last year.
Drafted as an extremely high prospect in the 2021 NBA Draft, the former G-League Ignite standout seem poised to be a future building block for the Warriors to not only flouirsh alongside Stephen Curry, but to be a player Golden State could build around after the future Hall of Famer eventually called it a career.
However, those future plans were quickly derailed by Kuminga falling out of favor in Steve Kerr's rotation, which eventually led to the forward and his camp making their desire for a fresh start clear.
It seemed that last offseason could be the exact opportunity Kuminga was seeking as he entered restricted free agency, but the Warriors' reluctancy to play ball with any interested suitors eventually led to the wing re-signing in Golden State with the mutual understanding that a deal would be revisted this season if things didn't get sorted out.
Fast forward to this point of the season, not only is Kuminga in the midst of a down year with his decreased role, but the former lottery pick's frustration have led to a recent trade demand that general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. will be forced to sort out, while also dealing with the void that star Jimmy Butler's season-ending injury leaves behind.
Following Kuminga's demand, the Wizards were rumored as a team to have interest in a potential deal according to NBA Insider Kevin O'Connell of Yahoo Sports.
Despite that, the recent comments from Warriors' general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. suggests even with Kuminga's demand, the leverage isn't in the forward's favor.
Warriors GM provides Jonathan Kuminga trade update
In a recent interview, Warriors' general manager was asked about Kuminga's recent trade demand,
Instead of offering a real update, it seemed like the Warriors' decision-maker used the opportunity to take a shot at his young player.
“When you make a demand, there needs to be demand," Dunleavy said.
Those words suggests that Kuminga doesn't have a market for his services, which in turn doesn't give him much leverage in a potential deal.
At the same time though, it's hard to imagine there's no interested suitors in the forward considering the level of interest he received throughout free agency this offseason from the likes of teams like the Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls.
Whether the Wizards are truly interested or not is unknown, but regardless it doesn't seem as if the Warriors are willing to work with Kuminga to sort out his demand, especially after the injury to Butler.