Warriors Refuse to Include Rotation Mainstay in Kuminga Trade: Report

The Golden State Warriors have shut down sign-and-trade talks involving Jonathan Kuminga after no team was willing to meet their premium asking price of an unprotected first-round pick.

In addition to that, the Warriors were also unwilling to include one of their key rotation players in the most serious offer they received — which came from the Sacramento Kings — according to Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard.

Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that the Kings improved their initial offer of Devin Carter, Dario Saric and two second-round picks to Malik Monk and a protected first-round pick.

Even if the Kings were to remove the protection, the Warriors are unlikely to accept the deal, as they would still need to include additional salary alongside Kuminga to make the trade work — likely meaning parting with a core player.

Getty Moses Moody and Buddy Hield of the Golden State Warriors high five during the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets.

 

“I would add that they likely are uninterested in adding Moses Moody or Buddy Hield into this deal, which would be necessary due to base-year compensation rules,” Kawakami noted.

Under base-year compensation rules, only 50% of Kuminga’s new salary would count as outgoing salary in a sign-and-trade scenario. In this case, the Kings’ three-year, $63 million offer would average $21 million per year — but only $10.5 million of that would be counted on Golden State’s side. That would leave the Warriors needing to add more contracts to match Monk’s $18.8 million salary next season.

Jonathan Kuminga Wanted Kings Over Suns

Before the trade talks collapsed, Kuminga was leaning toward the Kings’ offer over the Phoenix Suns‘ despite less guaranteed money.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater, the Suns pushed all their chips to the table to lure Kuminga.

“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 Kuminga wanted the role that the Kings had envisioned for him.

A Zoom call meeting with the Kings’ general manager Scott Perry, assistant general manager BJ Armstrong and coach Doug Christie convinced Kuminga that they were the right team for him, according to Andscape’s senior NBA writer Marc J. Spears.

“He wants to go [to Sacramento],” Spears said on “NBA Today” on July 30. “The Kings are offering a starting spot, as the power forward, next to Keegan Murray and [Domantas] Sabonis.”

Playing Time Over Money

As Charania previously reported, “those are two things (significant playing time and a starting role) that he wants more than anything.”

The 22-year-old forward firmly believes he’s ready to spread his wings. In the final four games of last season — all losses that ended Golden State’s playoff run — Kuminga averaged 24.3 points on 55.4% shooting and 38.9% from the 3-point line.

Kuminga posted an Instagram story with a strong message amid the fallout with the Warriors.

“I’ll bet on myself all day,” Kuminga wrote on his Instagram story.

Instagram/Jonathan KumingaJonathan Kuminga posts a powerful message on his Instagram story amid his restricted free agency.

Kuminga’s intriguing social media post came on the heels of the ESPN report that their camp rejected the Warriors’ latest offer — a two-year, $45 million deal with a team option on the second year — as he prefers a fresh start elsewhere.