Jonathan Kuminga's role with the Warriors has always been a bit of a mess.

Last season, Kuminga admitted he "lost faith" in coach Steve Kerr. That led to a meeting between the two, more playing time and a breakout second half of the season for the No. 7 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.

Despite averaging nearly 20 points per game after that meeting in early January, the Warriors and Kuminga couldn't come to terms on an extension. His future looks even murkier now. A month into the 2024-25 season, Golden State sits in first place in the Western Conference and has done it while reducing his minutes.

Kuminga lost his starting job just four games into the season. He's averaged under 20 minutes per game over his last three contests, including only 15 minutes on his bobblehead night on Wednesday. With the re-emergence of Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green, he has been the odd man out.

Kuminga certainly has talent — he has shown that through stretches of his four years in the league — but Kerr does not seem to have confidence that he can fit into his system. It's time to trade him rather than continuously trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Why the Warriors need to trade Jonathan Kuminga

Kuminga doesn't fit Curry Ball

The Warriors' offense still revolves around a now 36-year-old Stephen Curry. They know exactly what types of players are needed to make him perform at his best, and Kuminga doesn't fit that bill.

Curry remains one of the most dangerous shooters in the game and a wizard when flying off screens. To maximize his threat, the Warriors need great screeners who have a high passing feel. Those are not strengths of Kuminga's game.

Kuminga also doesn't have the floor spacing to play with Curry. He's shooting just 33.9 percent from deep for his career and an even worse 31.9 percent this season.

This isn't to say that Kuminga is a bad offensive player. On the contrary, he is a tremendously skilled driver who is unstoppable when he has momentum going downhill, even if he always goes left. That style just doesn't mesh well with what the rest of the team is doing with Curry.

It's not a good fit for Kuminga or the team, and he could be a lot better somewhere else.

Kuminga isn't the high-feel defender that fits in the Warriors' new system

The Warriors have somewhat surprisingly reinvigorated their defense this season, ranking No. 4 in efficiency going into their game against the Pelicans on Friday. That defensive renaissance has come as a result of a more aggressive scheme under new assistant Jerry Stackhouse.

With a riskier defense that puts two defenders on the ball more frequently, there is zero margin for error when it comes to help rotations. That is a big issue for Kuminga, who still doesn't read the game at a high level.

He's often out of position or very late to recognize where he's supposed to be going.

Kuminga's footwork isn't great and he too frequently gets blown by on the perimeter.

Despite those limitations, Kuminga does have great defensive tools. He's a plus athlete with a 6-11 wingspan. He would fare better in a more conservative scheme or on a team where he had more wiggle room to play multiple positions rather than being stuck primarily as a power forward.