SAN FRANCISCO — On his first day of eligibility, fifth-year forward Jonathan Kuminga requested an away trade from the Golden State Warriors, league officials told ESPN.

Under the terms of his contract signed this summer, Kuminga could not be traded until Thursday. The trading deadline is February 5th.

Kuminga’s roller coaster tenure with the Warriors is likely at its lowest point. He started the first 12 games of the season, but after a strong start, manager Steve Kerr called him a sure-fire starter, the 23-year-old had a slump, with some poor performances leading to his demotion.

Kuminga has not seen the floor in the Warriors’ last 13 games. Kerr filled him in at the margins of the rotation, and when Kuminga left the game with back pain an hour before the game against the Thunder on Jan. 2, Kerr said at the time that he intended to use Kuminga while the starting lineup was rested.

According to team sources, nearly every key figure in the operation, especially Kuminga, Kerr and, as Jimmy Butler puts it, veterans who are watching a $22.5 million player sit on the bench as the team descends into “mediocre,” agree that trading Kuminga before the deadline is the best solution.

“It’s unfortunate for him that things didn’t go as well as they did the first few weeks,” Kerr said recently.

The Warriors spent the entire summer in controversial contract negotiations with Kuminga, taking advantage of the tight restricted free agent market to bring him back on a two-year, $46.8 million deal with a team option for a second season. The arrangement, which Kuminga said he felt coerced into signing by those around him and further soured his relationship with management, was done in order to deliver a tradeable contract to the Warriors before the deadline, league officials said.

General manager Mike Dunleavy and the front office have spent the past few weeks exploring the market for Kuminga. The Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks are among the teams interested in Kuminga as an interesting part of a rebuild, according to league sources, but several other teams are also in the mix due to his flexible contract structure.

Kuminga has a team option for next season worth $24.3 million. That means his deal could be used as an expiring contract (option declined), as a summer trade link, or as a low-risk flyer for the 6-foot-7 wing, who averaged 24.3 points and shot 55.6 percent from the field in the Warriors’ final four games, which they lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the series last May.

According to league sources, the Warriors are prioritizing the expiration of Kuminga’s contract in exchange for him. They rejected the idea of ​​bringing back a long-term contract unless they saw it as a clear positive value. That was a holdup in discussions with Sacramento. The Warriors have declined to absorb the three years and $60.4 million remaining on Malik Monk’s contract, but league sources say Keon Ellis (on a cheap expiring contract) could be attractive to the Warriors.

As of this week, the Warriors had not held talks with the Brooklyn Nets in more than a month and had never expressed any real interest in trading winger Michael Porter Jr., according to league sources. The New Orleans Pelicans have liked Trey Murphy III in the past, but have declined inquiries about all of their young wings, according to league sources.

Team officials say the Warriors are willing to move multiple first-round draft picks if they acquire the right star player, but are more protective of first-round picks in 2028 and beyond than 2026.

Warriors decision-makers also believe that despite the will and power, no team has guaranteed that Kuminga will be traded before the deadline, and it may be better business to postpone the decision to the summer. Rival executives said they believed the stance was a bluff and that Mr. Kuminga would be swayed.