Warriors’ Disgruntled Star Tempted by Massive Offers Elsewhere

Restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga appears to be done with the Golden State Warriors.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater, Kuminga “prefers” the external offers he received more than the Warriors’ two-year, $45 million deal on the table.

“The most significant negotiations have been with the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns, getting proposals up to four years approaching $90 million total, including a player option for the final season, sources said. Phoenix has made the most lucrative push via sign-and-trade,” Charania and Slater reported.

The Suns’ proposal was nearly $70 million more guaranteed than the Warriors’ offer, Charania and Slater added.

But more than the control over his future which the player option will afford him, Kuminga “believes they signify a fresh start, a larger guaranteed role, a promised starting position and a greater level of respect.”

That outweighs the richer base-year compensation ($22.5 million per year) offer from the Warriors, whom Kuminga believes to have held him back.

In rejecting the Warriors’ offer, Kuminga stood for himself, not wanting to cede “too much control to a franchise he believes has stunted and strung his career along for four seasons,” according to Charania and Kuminga.

Jonathan Kuminga-Steve Kerr Tense Relationship

Getty Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr shakes hands with Jonathan Kuminga.

Kuminga failed to get a defined role under Golden State coach Steve Kerr since the Warriors drafted him seventh overall in 2021.

Even after patching things up following The Athletic report in 2024 that Kuminga “has lost faith” in Kerr, his playing time was still sporadic.

The string of CD-DNPs in the last Warriors’ playoff run widened the rift between Kuminga and Kerr.

According to Charania and Slater, Kuminga views Kerr “as someone who has made it clear there is not a defined big-minute opportunity for him every night with the Warriors.”

Kerr went on record that Kuminga will not play starter minutes next season if he remains with the team, despite the young forward’s strong showing in the last four games of the season.

Kuminga averaged 24.3 points on 55.4% shooting and 38.9% from the 3-point line during the final four games of their season while Stephen Curry was out with a hamstring injury. Though they lost all four games to bow out.

“I’ve been asked to win,” Kerr told The San Francisco Standard’s Tim Kawakami on “The TK Show” on May 21. “And right now, he’s not a guy who I can say, I’m going to play 38 minutes with the roster we have, Steph, Jimmy [Butler] and Draymond [Green], and put the puzzle together that way and expect to win.”

Warriors Issue Ultimatum

With no appealing offer from the Suns and the Kings, the Warriors are moving on, according to Charania and Slater.

“In recent days, they have begun signaling a plan to cut off sign-and-trade conversations entirely, using their restricted free agency leverage to the fullest, sources said,” Charani and Slater wrote.

The Warriors sent an ultimatum to Kuminga: accept their two-year offer or the $7.9 million qualifying offer.

Either way, the Warriors will have a disgruntled Kuminga to open the season.

The 22-year-old forward is “expressing” his willingness to take the short-term risk and “potentially take the qualifying offer” to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, according to Charania and Slater.