The Golden State Warriors’ offseason has been quiet, and they’re still waiting on the first domino to fall.
Over the past several weeks, the NBA Draft and the start of free agency dominated headlines. Add in a handful of blockbuster trades, and it’s hard to find many teams that haven’t gotten in on the action.
Of course, the Warriors are one of those few teams, but probably not by design. Going into the offseason, Golden State knew its top priority would be figuring out the Jonathan Kuminga situation.
The 2021 first-round pick is out of his rookie deal and in restricted free agency, putting him in the same boat as a few others around the league. While every other restricted free agent is mostly worried about money, Kuminga’s destination for next season has been in doubt for most of the summer.
However, recent reports have effectively set things in place for Kuminga to be a Warrior when next season starts, but finding the right deal will be difficult. The San Francisco Standard’s Tim Kawakami might have the perfect solution to the Warriors’ problems.
Currently, the likeliest endings to the Kuminga saga would be him taking the qualifying offer to enter free agency next summer or signing a two-year, $45 million deal that has only been offered with a guarantee for the first year.
Kawakami’s proposal is simply to partially guarantee the second year of the $45 million deal. That would keep Kuminga from having a no-trade clause and could be enticing enough to end the saga, given that it would net the young forward some guaranteed extra cash and stability.
