As the Warriors’ contract saga with free-agent forward Jonathan Kuminga approaches the three-month mark, there are plenty of opinions across the NBA landscape on how to bring the standoff to an end.
Former NBA All-Star Jeff Teague hasn’t shied away from sharing his thoughts on the situation throughout the offseason, and this week, he advocated for Golden State to make a move that would benefit both itself and Kuminga.
On a recent episode of his “Club 520” podcast, Teague explained why he’d like to see the Warriors complete a sign-and-trade deal that would send Kuminga to Sacramento and guard Malik Monk to the Bay.
“Malik Monk could actually be a fire addition to the Warriors,” Teague stated (h/t Golden State Warriors on SI.com). “But I think they are set on a big — that’s what they need more than anything. I think he’d be a fire addition, though, because they need a spark plug like him. That’s the Jordan Poole type of player right there.”
Across his last three seasons with Sacramento, Monk has averaged 15.3 points per game on 44.3 percent shooting from the field and 34.4 percent from 3-point range. The 27-year-old finished fifth and second in NBA Sixth Man of the Year voting in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, respectively.
As Teague noted, Monk could provide the Warriors with a similar spark off the bench to former Golden State guard Jordan Poole, who played a pivotal role in their 2022 NBA Finals-winning run.
“I think if he got in that system with those veterans and those players, that could mold him a little more. He’ll probably be better than Jordan Poole, to be honest,” Teague continued on Monk. “I’m not saying he’s a better player. Jordan Poole is cold, but Jordan Poole grew up in that system, so he figured out how to be successful in it.”
While the Warriors finding a Poole-type replacement sounds great in theory, it might not be all that realistic at this point.
According to a report by NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson on Saturday, the chances of Golden State agreeing to a sign-and-trade featuring Kuminga are slim.
With time running out for both sides to make a decision, a conclusion to this months-long saga should come soon.
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