Appearing in only 17 of the team’s first 53 games, uniquely skilled center Kristaps Porzingis made it clear he wasn’t going to be part of the Hawks’ present, much less their future. So at the trade deadline, general manager Onsi Saleh sent him to Golden State in exchange for, essentially, a stack of poker chips.
That’s new Hawk wing Jonathan Kuminga, acquired from the Warriors on the Feb. 5 trade deadline for Porzingis along with guard Buddy Hield.
If Kuminga hits, the Hawks bring in a hyperathletic force who can hammer opponents at the rim and be extended on a team option for the 2026-27 season. But if coach Quin Snyder can’t find a way to summon that ability and fit him into the Hawks’ scheme, then he’ll become either a trade chip or an expiring contract to take off the books.
Given that the cost to acquire Kuminga (and Hield) from the Golden State Warriors was the injury-plagued Porzingis, who also was playing on an expiring contract, there is a lot of potential gain without much to lose. (Although the Hawks did spend a 2025 first-round NBA draft pick and other assets to acquire Porzingis in the first place.)
“It’s a low-risk (trade),” an NBA scout told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You flipped an expiring Porzingis into what could be an expiring Kuminga, so it doesn’t really hurt you.”
As the Hawks return from the All-Star break and plan for the remainder of the season and beyond, they’re essentially taking a flier on the Congolese 23-year-old, who entered the NBA in 2021 as the No. 7 overall pick.
It was a smart move by Saleh to get something in exchange for Porzingis, a failed acquisition from this past summer. And if Kuminga, whom Saleh knows well from his time in the Warriors’ front office, turns out to be impactful and worth keeping — which he has the potential to be — it will have been a profitable trade.
As the Hawks try to establish themselves as — don’t laugh — a consistent winner, Kuminga could go a long way toward helping them get there.
A primer: After Golden State took him in the 2021 draft — he was compared to four-time All-Star Shawn Marion — Kuminga’s five seasons with the Warriors were often turbulent. He showed promise in spurts but clashed with coach Steve Kerr.
As detailed in a recent ESPN report, Kerr essentially saw him as an athletic role player, where Kuminga believed he merited a bigger, on-ball place in the offense. It didn’t help that he was a young player on a championship-focused team that couldn’t afford his mistakes as he learned on the job.
It reached the point where Kerr often kept Kuminga on the bench, playing two-way players ahead of him, and Kuminga requested a trade, ultimately granted just before the trade deadline.
Said Saleh after the trade deadline: “He’s going to have an opportunity here.”
The tools are obvious. His highlights hit differently than those of most other NBA players.
The 6-foot-7 Kuminga attacks the basket almost like he’s angry at it, driving to the rim with suddenness, overwhelming defenders with his strength and acceleration and rising high to throw down forceful dunks.
Two numbers that express where he excels:
In each of the past three seasons, he has ranked in the top 15% in the NBA in drawing fouls while shooting, according to Cleaning the Glass.
In the 2023-24 season, when he played a career-high 1,949 minutes, Kuminga was credited with 138 dunks, according to Basketball Reference. It was the most by any player 6-foot-7 or shorter by a margin of 50 dunks.
“He has some abilities that we just don’t have on the court, honestly, with our roster,” Saleh said.
The Hawks can give Kuminga substantially more minutes than he received in Golden State in an environment where he’ll have more latitude to make mistakes. He can be another development project for Snyder.
The Hawks will see how he fits with their three biggest puzzle pieces, All-Star forward Jalen Johnson and guards Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Their transition-oriented style could be a better fit for Kuminga than Golden State.
Kuminga, who has yet to play for the Hawks because of a bone bruise in his left knee, is expected to be cleared to play next week.
“I think more than anything, it’s just seeing how he fits in with his style of play and different things like that,” Saleh said.
The other player received from Golden State, the 33-year-old Hield, also is on a short-term trial. The Hawks could keep him — he’s a 39.5% career 3-point shooter, and a reputed entertaining locker-room presence — or use him in a trade or waive him, which would cost the Hawks a relatively minor $3 million, which itself could be stretched over five years.
But Kuminga is the Hawks’ big speculative venture.
Whether he fits and can move the Hawks ahead is anybody’s guess. But it’s an optimal situation to try to find out.
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