The Golden State Warriors hope to improve the roster meaningfully this summer, but doing that without Jonathan Kuminga as a trade chip is going to prove difficult.
Bobby Marks of ESPN predicted on Saturday, June 28, that Golden State would extend Kuminga the $7.9 million qualifying offer that allows them to retain his restricted free-agent rights — or, in other words, match any offer another franchise makes to the versatile wing player this offseason.
“What happens next could be a waiting game. With Brooklyn as the only team that can offer a starting salary of $20 million or more (Golden State would have the right to match), the best option could be both sides exploring a sign-and-trade,” Marks wrote. “The decision with Kuminga plays a role in what flexibility Golden State has in finding a starting center.”
However, Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale wrote Sunday that an obscure NBA guideline is going to make a sign-and-trade exceedingly difficult, which probably means Kuminga ends up playing his fifth year in the league — and potentially several seasons beyond — in a Warriors uniform.
“Base-year-compensation gymnastics complicate any sign-and-trade possibilities unless the [Nets] are involved. Kuminga will essentially count as only 50 percent of his new salary to the Warriors, yet his next team has to math out deals to account for the full weight of his new price point,” Favale wrote. “Re-signing him to preserve the asset and salary slot and figuring out the rest later is Golden State’s best bet. This approach gets risky if Kuminga fields a ridiculous offer sheet with an average annual value that could age poorly, but Brooklyn is the lone potential suitor who has the spending power to inflict that kind of discomfort.”
Warriors Can Match Any Offer to Jonathan Kuminga, Revisit a Trade Ahead of NBA’s February Deadline
That isn’t the ideal outcome for Golden State, as head coach Steve Kerr benched Kuminga down the stretch of the regular season and played him sparingly in Round 1 of the playoffs against the Houston Rockets.
An injury to Stephen Curry in Game 1 of Round 2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves forced Kerr’s hand, and Kuminga responded to the challenge by averaging nearly 21 points per game, despite just a seven-point performance over just 13 minutes played in the opening contest.
Still, none of that changes the reality that Kuminga’s most effective style of play doesn’t fit seamlessly with how Kerr wants the offense to run. It also doesn’t change Jimmy Butler’s presence on the roster for at least the next two years, which mitigates the minutes available to Kuminga.
But despite the issues of fit and need, a limited free-agent market for Kuminga puts the Warriors in a good position to keep him on the roster until at least next February’s trade deadline, when flipping him may make more sense and prove less complicated/more lucrative.
“That bodes well for the Warriors keeping him at a palatable number, attempting to integrate him into the Jimmy Butler era and then revisiting his fit and market value closer to February’s trade deadline,” Favale continued.
Jonathan Kuminga Interested in Playing Elsewhere Than Golden State
Kuminga is uncertain about a potential return to the Warriors in his age-23 season based on his recent comments. Golden State drafted him No. 7 overall in 2021 and paid him $25 million over the life of his four-year rookie contract.
Tim Kawakami spoke with Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy for a piece that ran on June 27 in The San Francisco Standard, and Kuminga was a central topic of conversation.
“He’s a guy who believes in himself, wants to see what he can do. I think ultimately if we’re able to bring him back, we see a path for him to be able to do some of those things here,” Dunleavy said of Kuminga. “I think for him, experiencing free agency, kind of being on the market, for him to go through that, I think there’s an appeal to it. By not doing an extension last year, he kind of earned that right.”
Unfortunately for Kuminga, most teams around the league don’t have salary cap space, so the timing of his free agency is working against him.
