NBA Insider Says Warriors 'Don't Want' Jonathan Kuminga amid Contract, Trade Rumors
The Athletic's Eric Koreen feels the Golden State Warriors' decision to extend a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga has more to do with team-friendly RFA rules than with a desire to keep the forward in the Bay Area.
"The Warriors don’t want Kuminga, and Kuminga doesn’t want to be in The Bay," Koreen stated Thursday for The Athletic. "Yet, the Warriors weren’t willing to forgo extending him a qualifying offer."
RFA-eligible players who aren't coming out of a first-round contract or two-way deal are eligible for a qualifying offer worth 135 percent of the previous season's salary under NBA rules. That's how the Warriors extended a one-year, $7.9 million qualifying offer to Kuminga in June.
Koreen went on to compare the Warriors making that offer to a business "protecting the asset" rather than a team believing in its player.
The Warriors have since made contract offers to Kuminga, but reportedly remain unwilling to give Kuminga a guaranteed second year. The franchise's latest offer to Kuminga was a two-year, $45 million deal with a team option for 2026-27, according to ESPN's Shams Charania and Anthony Slater.
Kuminga's agent Aaron Turner recently countered with a three-year, $82 million proposal, per Charania and Slater.
Turner has also looked into sign-and-trade proposals from the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns, who were offering approximately four-year, $90 million deals with a player option in the fourth season, Charania and Slater reported.
Slater recently said that Kuminga is interested in gaining more playing time through a potential trade to the Kings, but the Warriors aren't getting their desired offer of a young player and "at least" a first-round pick without taking on bad contracts in return.
Charania and Slater wrote that Golden State has "begun signaling a plan to cut off sign-and-trade conversations entirely, using their restricted free agency leverage to the fullest."
Kuminga missed time with injuries including an ankle issue last season. When available he averaged 15.3 points per game in 47 appearances and 10 starts as he saw his usage drop from the 2023-24 campaign.
He could end up sticking around in Golden State for the start of the 2025-26 season more because of RFA rules, and because opponents' salary cap restrictions are preventing them from matching the Warriors' asking price, than because the team sees him as a good fit on the roster.
The forward could ultimately decide to take his option and head into the fall on an expiring contract in order to enter free agency with more leverage next offseason.
