Jonathan Kuminga‘s impending free agency has dominated discussions surrounding the Golden State Warriors in recent weeks. The explosive forward is reportedly drawing interest from a handful of teams around the NBA.
Still, Kuminga is a restricted free agent, meaning the Warriors still hold most of the cards. Durind a June 23 news conference, General Manager, Mike Dunleavy Jr., discussed his hopes for Kuminga’s free agency.
“I think we’re in a good spot with it, honestly,” Dunleavy said . “We have the ability to bring him back. He’s restricted. I think there will be good dialogue. I’d like to figure something out sooner than later. That would be great…I also acknowledge, with restricted free agency, these things can drag out a little bit and take some time. I think we feel pretty comfortable with who JK is as a player and what he can do for our organization. … It’s a main priority going into free agency.”
Despite his clear talent and long-term upside, Kuminga has struggled to cement himself in Steve Kerr’s rotation. The explosive forward is often expected to plug gaps when players are out due to rest or injury. However, once the Warriors are back to full strength, Kuminga is usually the odd man out.
Therefore, the Warriors would be wise to explore Kuminga’s trade market. That is, of course, unless they plan on leaning into his skill set moving forward.
Kerr Can’t Commit to Giving Kuminga a Bigger Role
In a May 21 appearance on “The TK Show” podcast with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, Kerr explained the difficult situation he has in finding a consistent role for Kuminga.
“It’s a tricky one because Jonathan obviously is gifted and wants to play a bigger role and wants to play more,” Kerr said. “And, I’ve been asked to win. Right now, he’s not a guy who I can say that I’m going to play 38 minutes with the roster that we have…Doesn’t mean he’s not a really good player. Doesn’t mean he’s not talented. It just means the fit. And with the roster that we have, it’s tricky…We can talk about spacing, usage rate, and all that stuff. But the game is about puzzle fitting. It’s about five guys complimenting one another at both ends of the floor. So all I do is, you know, I try to win.”
Kuminga needs consistent minutes in order to become the All-Star-caliber player we know he can be. If he’s not going to get that in Golden State, it would be unfair to keep him around any longer.
Kuminga Could Sign His Qualifying Offer
Rather than re-signing Kuminga to a new long-term contract, Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale has proposed a short-term solution that would see Kuminga sign his qualifying offer. By doing so, the former lottery pick would become an unrestricted free agent next season.
“My confidence meter on this one isn’t especially high,” Favale wrote. “But we haven’t seen a marquee restricted free agent with a case to sign his qualifying offer for purely basketball reasons since Greg Monroe…in 2014…Preserving Kuminga as an asset is the Golden State Warriors’ top priority. That demands they broker a sign-and-trade or keep him, perhaps with the intent to flip him later. But the Base Year Compensation rule complicates any sign-and-trade that doesn’t send him to the Brooklyn Nets, and the Warriors must be careful not to offer him a deal that ages into a net-negative.”
By signing his qualifying offer, Kuminga could then be traded during the season. That would allow the Warriors to get a fair return on their former draft pick. And, if a trade didn’t materialize, Kuminga could explore unrestricted free agency next summer.
While it would be a risk on the Warriors’ part, Favale’s idea does make sense for both sides.
