Rising star Jonathan Kuminga may be playing the last stretch of an up-and-down four-year stint with the Golden State Warriors.
Bleacher Report’s salary cap expert predicts 
Kuminga, who will become a restricted free agent after this season, to leave the Warriors to sign with the Brooklyn Nets.
“Jonathan Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors were far apart in extension talks this past fall. The Nets could gamble that a solid offer is enough to pry the forward loose for less than he wants but more than Golden State will pay.
They could give him a four-year, $105.5 million offer sheet starting at $28.5 million (if it descends). Brooklyn can include a trade kicker and advances to try to swing Kuminga its way,” Pincus wrote.
Since Kuminga is a restricted free agent, Pincus noted that “The Warriors can match any offer that the Nets make, but with luxury taxes, aprons and a heavy commitment to Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green over the next two years, they may have a limit on how much they’d spend to retain Kuminga.”
Warriors Need to Make Salary Cap Gymnastics
Kuminga’s camp was “aiming for” a $35 million annual average salary, The Athletic reported in the fall, but the Warriors were only willing to go $30 million.
But so much has changed since then. They now have an expensive trio of veteran stars that leaves little room for them to accommodate Kuminga’s wishes to get paid like an ascending star.
The Warriors have roughly $166 million in guaranteed salaries for seven players led by their star trio and role players Buddy Hield, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis.
The NBA salary cap for next season has been pegged at $154.6 million next season, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, with the luxury tax threshold at $187.9 million. The first apron is at $195.9 million and the second apron limit at $207.8 million.
That will leave the Warriors roughly $29 million cap room under the first apron and $37 million under the second apron and the taxpayer midlevel exception to sign seven more players to reach the league minimum of 14.
They could theoretically pay Kuminga an annual average salary of $30 million then flesh out the rest of the roster with veteran minimums. Another option is to flip Hield’s $9.2 million salary into two serviceable players.
Does Jonathan Kuminga Want to Stay as 6th Man?
Nevertheless, the Warriors have to do cap gymnastics to keep Kuminga.
And that is, if Kuminga wants to stay in the Bay given that he is likely to come off the bench due to the spacing issues with Butler, which is holding back Golden State coach Steve Kerr from pairing them in the starting unit.
“Jimmy is, I’ve talked about this, he’s one of the best [isolation] players in the league,” Kerr said, per The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, following Thursday’s practice in New Orleans. “So if you’re gonna run iso-offense, you need spacing, proper cutting and proper movement. Jimmy just got here, obviously, one month ago so we’re still adapting your spacing. Within those [isolation plays] requires us to put the right combinations out there and teach the guys where to be and how to connect the plays and JK is still adapting.”
Butler and Kuminga have shared the court for 76 minutes since the latter returned from a 32-game absence due to a significant ankle sprain. And in those tiny small sample size, they have a minus-18.1 net rating and the Warriors have been outscored by 28 points, according to Mercury News’ Danny Emerman.
The Nets have the cap room, the playing time and a starting role to offer Kuminga if they pursue him in the offseason, which leaves the Warriors at a great disadvantage.
