Trade Proposal Would Send Paul George to Warriors for Rising Star

Getty Jonathan Kuminga dunks.

After losing in the Play-In Tournament, the Golden State Warriors could look to go all in for a new co-star to pair with Stephen Curry. Doric Sam of Bleacher Report proposed a trade to help them find that player.

The deal would send Jonathan Kuminga and more to the Los Angeles Clippers for six-time All-NBA star Paul George.

Warriors would get: George

Clippers would get: Kuminga, Chris Paul, Trayce Jackson-Davis

“Trading George to another team in the Pacific Division likely would be detrimental to the Clippers’ chances of competing for a title in the near future, so the team would likely be seeking a substantial return,” Sam wrote on June 25.

“In negotiations with the Golden State Warriors, it can be expected that Los Angeles would not let George go without taking back some of Golden State’s most promising players,” Sam wrote. “Jonathan Kuminga has shown the potential of being a star player on both ends of the floor, and Trayce Jackson-Davis had flashes of being a productive big man in his rookie season.”

‘No Desire to Part With Kuminga’: NBC Sports

If the Warriors are going to land a player of George’s caliber, it could require them to move Kuminga.

Kuminga, 21, showed growth in his third NBA season, averaging 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He nearly doubled his point total from the 2022-23 season, when he averaged 9.9 points per game.

While the Warriors could use other players to match salaries for a player in a trade, teams could look to land the potential star. However, according to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area, the Warriors aren’t interested in moving him.

“The Warriors have exhibited no desire to part with Kuminga, and their same intent has been applied to Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis,” Poole wrote on June 24.

The Warriors Have Interest in George

The Warriors’ interest in George was most recently reported by Marc Stein of Substack on June 24.

“I’m pretty sure that the Warriors are as interested in [Paul] George as the [New York] Knicks — maybe more,” Stein wrote.

With the Knicks trading many of their assets in a massive deal for Mikal Bridges on June 25, the likelihood of trading for Paul went down.

The Knicks landing Bridges was a positive sign for the Warriors in their pursuit of George because they have one fewer team to worry about.

George has a player option he could opt into and get traded, or he could hit free agency.

According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, George could “get traded by this weekend” if he were to opt into his deal.

“That is something that is going to come to a head in the next day or two if he wants to go with that option because, obviously, you’d have to negotiate a trade, and then the team wouldn’t necessarily need salary cap space,” Windhorst said June 24 on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “The Paul George sweepstakes is going to come to a head, at least that aspect of it, faster than those other players who are going to be free agents like Klay Thompson or DeMar DeRozan.”