It’s August now, and yet it seems like we’re no closer to a resolution of the Jonathan Kuminga situation, which has been stuck in limbo since the NBA season ended. The 22-year-old forward is a restricted free agent and has declined the Golden State Warriors’ two-year, $45 million offer with a team option in the second year. There has also been no movement on a sign-and-trade.
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The Kings and Suns have both expressed interest in acquiring Kuminga, but no deal has been reached yet. Golden State has reportedly been asking too high a price for him.
Shannon Sharpe and Joe Johnson agreed on the latest episode of Nightcap that it’s time for Kuminga and the Warriors to part ways. “I think he’s actually ready to move on. If the Warriors are looking to improve… They’re gonna have to trade Kuminga,” Johnson said.
Sharpe chimed in to say, “I’m not so sure that he trusts them anymore.” That statement makes sense given the way the team messed with his minutes late in the season.
Kuminga averaged 15.3 points per game this past year, the third-highest number on the team behind Steph Curry (22.6) and Jimmy Butler (17.9 in 30 games after coming over at the trade deadline). Still, he was a DNP-Coach’s Decision in the Warriors’ play-in game against the Grizzlies and then four more times in their first-round series against the Rockets.
As Golden State’s injuries mounted and Kuminga was pressed into service in the next round against the Wolves. He excelled by averaging over 24 points per game in the last four games of the series. He’s certainly shown the ability to play a larger role than the Warriors have been willing to give him, and it looks like he’d like to do it somewhere else.
“I don’t think [going back to Golden State] is an option for him,” said Sharpe, pointing to “the things that Curry said” as a reason for it.
That’s a reference to Curry’s statement after the Warriors were eliminated in May. “Hope the future’s bright for him [Kuminga], whether it’s here, whether it’s wherever,” he had said.
Curry has always been a vocal defender of his young teammate. And though this statement is also a positive one, the fact that he acknowledged the possibility of Kuminga leaving shows that he knew the writing was already on the wall.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported last week that Kuminga prefers to leave Golden State for either Sacramento or Phoenix. Charania added that it’s “because he believes they signify a fresh start, a larger guaranteed role, a promised starting position, and a greater level of respect and career control.”
If the Warriors can’t find an offer they’d like, though, Kuminga would have little option but to return to Golden State on a one-year, $7.9 million qualifying offer. That offer is good until October 1 and would allow Kuminga to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, at which point he would finally have the freedom to choose where to go.
With nearly two months until that deadline, we may still be waiting a while to find out how this plays out.
