Warriors reportedly more open to trading Andrew Wiggins than before

The Golden State Warriors are reportedly leaving the door open to possibly trading another one of the core members of the 2022 championship-winning team.

The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami published an article Thursday that discussed Andrew Wiggins and his fellow wing Jonathan Kuminga, and what the Dubs could possibly do if they can’t coexist. A potential answer is to find a suitable trade partner — for Wiggins.

In a “side note,” Kawakami reported that Wiggins’ relatively cheap extension “would not be a major barrier for the Warriors to explore Wiggins’ trade market. Especially if he can’t play with Kuminga and the Warriors decide that Kuminga is their full-time small forward.” Kawakami noted that he had previously believed that the extension — a team-friendly four-year, $109 million deal that was a discount considering the role Wiggins played on a championship team — would stop the Dubs from shopping the 28-year-old forward.

While Wiggins is coming off one of his best games of the season, scoring 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting in a Christmas Day loss to the Nuggets, it’s been a rather rough season for the former No. 1 overall pick. His scoring and offensive production have been down across the board, and ESPN’s Kendra Andrews reported last month that Warriors were “annoyed” with his poor conditioning heading into this season. Seeing Kuminga come into form this season could very well indicate to the front office that it’s time to accelerate the end of Wiggins’ tenure with the Warriors.

At the same time, it’s difficult to say for sure if the team has to move on from the Canadian wing. As Kawakami noted, whether Wiggins stays or goes depends on how he meshes within different Golden State lineups. That’s a hard thing for the team to get a proper sense of with Draymond Green currently on an indefinite suspension.

The Jordan Poole trade this offseason was a sign that being a pivotal member of the Warriors’ last championship team wasn’t enough to prevent a trade. Now it’s time to see whether Wiggins noticed.