The fallout from the Jonathan Kuminga saga may extend far beyond Golden State—and into the inner workings of Klutch Sports itself. That reality places Rich Paul in a uniquely powerful position to assess Kuminga’s standing with the Warriors, especially as reports link the forward to the Los Angeles Lakers.

After being a healthy scratch for more than a dozen consecutive games, Kuminga’s once-sky-high value has cratered, creating an opening for opportunistic teams. And like much of the league, Paul is left questioning why elite athleticism alone never translated into a consistent role.

Paul talked about the big development in the league on Game Over tonight. On January 15, trade eligibility began and Jonathan Kuminga demanded an exit out of the Bay. It was hardly surprising after the 2025 he’s had with doubts about his fit with the Golden State Warriors.

Now, Kuminga is not one of his clients. So Paul’s completely unbiased when he says, “I think a player of that caliber has the ability to play on most teams because of his talent.” Any team like… a certain one in Los Angeles?

Paul doesn’t say it outright. But his diagnosis of the Dubs’ Kuminga problem could be a roadmap for the Lakers to acquire him. He does say that JK was not the right fit for the Golden State system. “When you’re on a specific team, now you have to dive into that team’s style of play and how it fits, how the coach wants to play, the other pieces.”

As he said, this problem came up in 2024 and Kerr made it obvious that Kuminga didn’t fit their Stephen Curry-centric style.

For two seasons in a row, that resulted in Kuminga’s diminished minutes. Around his first DNP earlier in the season, Kerr publicly stated he “won’t justify why somebody isn’t playing.” It suggested that the dip in JK’s shooting efficiency wasn’t the problem; his role in the lineup was.

Although he can’t elaborate on why that may be, Paul can speak as an observer and say, “Maybe it’s just not a fit there.” But he firmly believes the 23-year-old can fit into any other team.

Rich Paul reveals the inflexibility of the Golden State Warriors system

Rich Paul might confirm what many analysts have been saying: that Jonathan Kuminga’s struggles are not a talent issue but a systemic one. But when Lebron James’s friend and agent says it, it fuels rumors about the Los Angeles Lakers. Especially when LA is a possible landing spot for the forward.

The Warriors have no interest in getting Michael Porter Jr., and the Pelicans won’t give them Trey Murphy III. That increases the Lakers’ leverage to trade a player with a diminished role for another one. A proposed mock trade would send Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, and Dalton Knecht, whose ceilings have recently dropped, in exchange for Kuminga.

Thanks to Kerr reducing his minutes, JK presents a low-cost, high long-term development prospect for the Lakers as they try to build around Luka Doncic. However, what they really need is a DPOY like Rich Paul’s other client to fix their defensive weaknesses. Not surprisingly, Paul drew that comparison to Draymond Green.

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“Obviously he [Kuminga] could play anywhere else and I think, in the event that his style of play was more of a Draymond type of role where you can rebound the ball, push, throw into a dribble hand-off, make the right read, get off of it, set the screen, roll again, drop shoot, kick to the corner, that’s not his style of play.”

Green, though, played a big role in enabling the Warriors’ system, and it’s hard to completely replace him at that position. Only the most elite players have been able to adapt to Steve Kerr’s Curry-centric designs, as seen in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Kevin Durant on Team USA, and Jimmy Butler on the Warriors right now.

But the Lakers are currently starting a new system, an ideal time for Kuminga to carve out his new role. Now all that’s needed is for the two teams to agree on the draft capital.