The NBA restricted free agency market is a mess. In the past, players could grab big offer sheets as restricted free agents. Now it seems like the top restricted free agents are all wanting money that nobody is willing to offer them.
That has sparked the question: Will the Golden State Warriors be able to get rid of Jonathan Kuminga? Recent Kuminga rumors are saying that he is not interested in returning to Golden State and would much prefer being traded to the Phoenix Suns or Sacramento Kings. The Warriors’ rumors say they are leaning towards keeping Kuminga instead of trading him.
Regardless, that hasn’t stopped people from creating a ton of different Kuminga trade scenarios. Here’s one Warriors-Kuminga trade that swaps Kuminga with another one of the best restricted free agents on the market this offseason.
The wild hypothetical Kuminga trade looks like this:
Warriors receive: Cam Thomas (via sign-and-trade, 4 years / $65M)
Bulls receive: Nic Claxton, Josh Giddey (re-signed, 4 years / $98M), 2026 2nd-round pick (via ATL)
Nets receive: Jonathan Kuminga (via sign-and-trade, 4 years / $84M), Nikola Vučević, 2028 1st-round pick (top-5 protected)
This is an interesting way to get every restricted free agent signed and potentially happy. The Warriors would get a proven scorer who could be a potential star sixth man for them.
Thomas is a hard player to analyze. He has been a scoring machine over the last couple of seasons for the Brooklyn Nets, but many believe that it is just empty calories. He also leaves a lot to be desired on defense.
Still, Thomas is a unique scorer in that he can create his own offense regardless of who is defending him. The Warriors need a scorer like this.
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Unfortunately, his lack of size and subpar defensive history probably make him less interesting to the Warriors. Still, if Kuminga is going to go, replacing him with a 24-point-per-game scorer could certainly be a solid option.
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