The Washington Wizards have been linked to just about every young prospect on the trade market as of late for a variety of reasons.
For starters, Washington is a young and upcoming team and although they're still in the beginning stages of their rebuild, the Wizards have already assembled a roster full of high-upside talent.
As a team who's made it clear they're willing to take a swing on potential, the Wizards are viewed as an ideal landing spot for just about every talented player in need of a fresh start.
Not to mention the team's increased aggressiveness on the trade market as of late.
However, after the bold decision to make a blockbuster trade for Atlanta Hawks' star guard Trae Young, it became clear that Washington was looking to compete for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference sooner rather than later.
As a result, it didn't come as a total surprise when the Wizards' interest in a potential Jonathan Kuminga deal was revealed, especially considering their preliminary talks about a potential deal last offseason during Kuminga's restricted free agency process.
With the NBA trade deadline a couple weeks away, Washington could be in the market to make another blockbuster trade and Kuminga was a player that many people were considering a legitimate target.
Unfortunately, if the Wizards truly were interested in a deal for Kuminga, those dreams may have been at the very least put on pause, if not ended entirely following the latest development out West.
Jimmy Butler's injury likely takes Kuminga out of trade talks
Golden State Warriors' star Jimmy Butler III suffered a season-ending ACL injury on Monday that only added to the team's issues after a struggling start to the year.
The Warriors' inconsistency was already a cause for concern as the deadline loomed, but with the team losing a key piece to the roster, it only adds to the roster issues general manager Mike Dunleavy is expected to sort out as February looms.
Nonetheless, whatever Dunleavy and the Warriors' other decision-maker opt to do likely won't involve moving Kuminga, who will now be relied on to fill the void that Butler's absence leaves behind.
Obviously, Kuminga and his camp would still likely prefer a fresh start and while there's likely plenty of interested suitors, the liklihood that Golden State will be open to moving on from a young player with immense upside at a position of need now seems unlikelyt.