This offseason probably hasn’t gone to Jonathan Kuminga’s liking.
The talented Golden State Warriors forward still doesn’t have a contract. He still doesn’t know what time he’ll be playing for in the season ahead. And it doesn’t sound like he’s getting the kind of money he’s hoping for, either.
NBA insider Marc Stein has reported a couple of details:
- Kuminga still wants $30 million per year
- The Warriors’ best offer to Kuminga has come in at around two years and $40 million total
That’s certainly a long way to go in negotiations to get to $30 million per year. At this point, it’s not obvious what could possibly push Golden State to climb that far up the ladder.
Kuminga is a restricted free agent, which puts him in a tricky spot. In the free-wheeling offseasons of yesteryear, RFAs would get massive offer sheets from other teams, which would force their current team to either match the deal or let them walk for that big money.
Now, though, with cap space in such limited supply leaguewide and teams trying to avoid the dreaded first and second aprons of the salary cap, no one is rushing to hand Kuminga a big offer sheet.
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Golden State has said the right things and seems to like the idea of keeping Kuminga around. He’s a talented scorer who delivered for the Warriors in the playoffs when first Jimmy Butler and then Stephen Curry were out with injuries.
He also doesn’t fit perfectly into their rotation when everyone is healthy, and Kuminga may want to see himself in a bigger scoring role somewhere else.
Reports have indicated the Suns and Kings are both interested in a sign-and-trade to acquire Kuminga, but nothing has suggested those ideas are particularly close, either.
Right now, it all feels like a bit of a holding pattern, and the end destination is blurry at best.
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