Warriors set shocking and unforeseen asking price in Jonathan Kuminga trade

Given the Golden State Warriors are looking to build a contending team around Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green next season, you'd presume that they'd be after win-now assets in any potential Jonathan Kuminga sign-and-trade.

However, that doesn't appear to be the case as the Warriors work towards a solution on the young forward and his restricted free agency. Instead of asking for veteran pieces that could help right away, Golden State are actually after the opposite in prospective trade packages.

The Warriors want a promising player and pick for Jonathan Kuminga

According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic on Thursday night, the Warriors are after a promising young player AND a first-round pick if a rival teams wants to get their hands on the former seventh overall pick.

"The Golden State Warriors, according to league sources, have been searching for a promising young player plus a first-round pick in return for Kuminga, should they ultimately choose to part with him in a sign-and-trade scenario," Slater wrote.

This is quite the development for a team built around such a veteran core, but may also signify the difficulty that Golden State has in executing sign-and-trades for more proven players given the base-year compensation rules.

The Warriors cannot take back more than 50% of Kuminga's outgoing salary in a sign-and-trade. Given that most high-level experienced players are making at least $20 million and therefore are not financially viable, the pool of veteran players Golden State could target that makes sense for Kuminga is extremely small.

It therefore makes sense that the Warriors would target valuable young players that are still on their rookie contracts, which could also open up the opportunity for the franchise to use more money elsewhere in free agency.

Keegan Murray, for example, was viewed as the dream target for Golden State fans after the Sacramento Kings' reported interest in Kuminga emerged on Wednesday. Murray is extension eligible this offseason, but makes just $11.1 million on the final year of his rookie deal.

A potential deal with the Kings could still be forthcoming, but it's actually the Washington Wizards who have entered the mix strongly in the last 24 hours and could be a possible fit for Kuminga according to Slater.

Whether the Warriors can get a promising young player and a first-round pick remains to be seen, but it would seem like a high bar for opposing teams to reach despite Kuminga's obvious talent. This is likely Golden State just using the media as a tool to make other teams well aware of how highly they regard Kuminga, and that they won't be accepting ridiculous offers the likes of which the Kings threw up on Wednesday.