NBA trade proposal sends Jonathan Kuminga to Mavs, Klay Thompson to Warriors

Nobody ever accused the NBA trade rumor season of lacking imagination. This one checks that box.

Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes tossed out a three-team scenario that tries to solve a few different problems at once — Jonathan Kuminga’s unhappiness in Golden State, Dallas’ youth pivot, and the Warriors’ ongoing search for help now. Let’s take a look:

Warriors receive

• Daniel Gafford
• Klay Thompson

Mavericks receive

• Jonathan Kuminga
• Georges Niang

Jazz receive

• Buddy Hield
• 2027 first-round pick swap (via Golden State)

From Golden State’s side, this is part nostalgia tour, part roster correction. Thompson coming home scratches the sentimental itch for a franchise that knows the Curry-Green-Klay window is closer to closing than reopening. Gafford, meanwhile, would give them the kind of athletic center they’ve been hunting for since… well, basically forever.

Dallas’ angle is simpler. Kuminga is young, talented, and still theoretically ascending. It’s the kind of swing that makes sense if the franchise is quietly aligning things around Cooper Flagg’s timeline. Niang’s expiring deal doesn’t hurt either.

Utah does what Utah does. Take on a shooter, grab draft equity, stay flexible.

Is it clean? Not really. Thompson isn’t peak Klay anymore. Gafford has durability questions. Kuminga’s value isn’t exactly soaring after months of DNPs and tension with Steve Kerr.

But as a snapshot of where these teams are mentally? It fits.

This is January NBA logic. If it makes some sense and sparks debate, it’ll get floated. Whether it survives contact with reality is another story.