Whatever deals the Golden State Warriors were going to make before the NBA trade deadline were always going to come from a point of desperation after the unfortunate Jimmy Butler injury that ended his season. Even so, what they ended up settling on was the definition on uninspiring.
Shams Charania reported on Wednesday night: "BREAKING: The Golden State Warriors are trading Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks for Kristaps Porzingis, sources tell ESPN."
That was it, huh? That was the end result from tightly clutching to Kuminga? This is the deal they held out for and ultimately settled on being worth the mess that had followed them for longer than anyone would care to remember? Wow. Yikes.
The Los Angeles Lakers may be frustrating a large handful of fans through their inaction before this trade deadline. Sometimes, making a deal for the sake of making a deal can be worse than just not doing anything at all. The Warriors just offered Exhibit A of that.
Golden State’s desperation swing is exactly the kind of move the Lakers refused to force
This deal for the Warriors is not devoid of logic. The framework is there.
The Warriors needed to upgrade the frontcourt. When Porzingis is healthy, that much is accomplished. Of course, that has been far from a guarantee in recent seasons for the veteran big man.
Porzingis has only played 17 games for the Hawks this season. Last year, it was 42 games for the Boston Celtics. The campaign prior to that? 57 games played in 2023-24.
Injuries are a rough aspect of the NBA. The point is not to bash on Porzingis for suffering them. However, if you're the Warriors who are trying to squeeze out whatever positive basketball there is left in the Stephen Curry era, it's a tough look.
Golden State are 27-24, firmly stuck in the Play-In Tournament standings. Does swapping out Kuminga and Hield for Porzingis move the needle to confidently get them out of there? Probably not, no.
The silver lining here would be that Porzingis is an expiring contract at the end of the year. His $30.7 million is set to come off the books just in time for the offseason.
After desperately trying to insert themselves into the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, this is them waiving the white flag and just doing what they can in the present. It's not much, but it is a lesson to other teams about why managing expectations is important.