Warriors Remain in Awkward Holding Pattern Amid Kuminga Standoff

An NBA title contender has just nine players on its roster with training camp roughly two weeks away. 

The Warriors remain in a holding pattern as the offseason enters its final stretch while the team continues to negotiate with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga. 

The Warriors took Kuminga seventh overall in the 2021 NBA Draft and over the past four years, the 22-year-old has shown flashes of being an athletic scorer with an inconsistent shot. This past season he averaged 15.3 points per game on 45% shooting. 

Kuminga made $7.6 million in the final year of his rookie contract, according to Spotrac, and hit the market in a year when the majority of teams lacked cap space. The Warriors have been linked to multiple free agents, including veterans Al Horford and Seth Curry (Steph’s younger brother), but can’t proceed with those players before agreeing to terms with Kuminga. 

Without Kuminga on the roster, the Warriors are $17.5 million below the luxury tax and more than $25 million under both aprons. They have a $14.1 million non-tax midlevel exception that can be broken up to help sign players above the veteran minimum or use it in full. 

Aaron Turner, president of basketball at Verus and Kuminga’s agent, appeared on Friday’s episode of The Hoop Collective With Brian Windhorst, hosted by the longtime ESPN reporter to give his stance on talks.

“The Warriors, they didn’t want to do a deal last summer,” Turner said. “I know people have reported, ‘Did you guys turn down 5 years, $150 million?’ We would have taken that. We would have had to take that if it was on the table. But it wasn’t on the table. And no one was mad about it. The Warriors wanted to maintain flexibility. Had they given [Kuminga] pretty much anything above $20 million, I mean anything above the mid-level, they wouldn’t have been able to move him. That was the choice they made, they didn’t want to do a deal. 

The negotiation process between Kuminga and Golden State this summer has been notably public. Kuminga was offered a three-year contract for $75 million with the final year being a team option, a three-year deal for $54 million with no team option, and a two-year deal for $45 million with a team option in the final year. 

The team option, which puts Kuminga’s fate in the Warriors’ hands for the final year, is the sticking point in negotiations, Turner said. The Warriors are trying to maximize the final window of Curry’s career, which is why the team swung a trade for Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline last year. The Warriors’ contention status throughout Kuminga’s career has impacted his development and the ability to start and finish games. 

Turner said Kuminga met with the Suns and Kings in the offseason and both teams pitched him assuming a bigger role if he signed there. The Warriors’ narrow contention window and interest from other teams is why Kuminga wants a player option at the end of his new deal. 

“We look at the sacrifice of his game, these other teams, [Suns owner] Mat Ishbia, who’s openly said he’d give [Kuminga] whatever he could if he had the cap space; he’s trying to figure it out through a sign and trade.” Turner said. “So when you factor all of that in the thought is, OK, if we’re coming back here and it’s win now, this is Steph’s probably last window to win, help us out on the back end of the deal because we’re going to be sacrificing. That’s why the player option has been so pushed by us…We think it’s fair.”

Kuminga could also sign the Warriors’ qualifying offer, a one-year deal at a slight raise of $7.9 million that comes with a no-trade clause. It would allow the 6-foot-7 wing to enter unrestricted free agency next summer, when more teams will have cap space. It would require Kuminga to leave tens of millions on the table if he does. 

Turner didn’t rule out his client doing just that. 

“He wants to pick where he wants to go,” Turner said. “So the [qualifying offer] is real for sure.”