Jonathan Kuminga Rejects Warriors’ Offer
The Golden State Warriors continue their efforts to retain Jonathan Kuminga, but the restricted free agent player persists in rejecting the two-year, $45 million contract offer. Kuminga’s decision is largely due to the Warriors’ insistence on including a team option for the second season and their refusal to allow him to keep the no-trade clause incorporated. His agent, Aaron Turner, presented the Warriors with several frameworks during a couple of summer league meetings in Las Vegas, including a three-year deal for around $82 million that allowed the Warriors to stay below the second tax apron to use the taxpayer mid-level exception. Kuminga and Turner have used July to explore their signing and trade options. The most significant negotiations have been with the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns, obtaining offers of up to four years approaching $90 million in total, including a player option for the final season. The Warriors have not shown interest in the Kings’ and Suns’ trade options for Kuminga. In recent days, they have begun to signal a plan to completely cut off sign-and-trade conversations, maximizing their restricted free agency leverage.Their current stance is that Kuminga will be on the Warriors’ roster to start next season, whether through their two-year offer on the table or the one-year, $7.9 million qualifying offer, whichever path Kuminga prefers.
Kuminga prefers the long-term offers presented by the Kings and Suns because he believes they signify a fresh start, a guaranteed larger role, a promised starting position, and a greater level of respect and control over his career, shown in part through the player option. Phoenix’s proposal is also almost $70 million more guaranteed than the Warriors’ offer. Kuminga stated that he is not in a hurry to reach an agreement with the Warriors.This ongoing stalemate is largely about control, and the dispute over the option is the crux of the matter. Kuminga believes that accepting the Warriors’ two-year offer with a team option, along with waiving the no-trade rights, cedes too much control to a franchise that he believes has stagnated and prolonged his career for four seasons.
The Suns and Kings have offered Kuminga the defined role that has eluded him with the Warriors. Golden State coach Steve Kerr made several comments after the Jimmy Butler trade, where Kuminga’s fit alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green made it difficult to give him significant consistent minutes. The Warriors believe they have the best offer on the table for Kuminga due to the higher starting salary ($21.7 million next season compared to $19.8 million elsewhere) and the two-year team option concept. The deal is purposely structured to be tradable starting January 15th, and if Kuminga’s ultimate desire is to play elsewhere, it would allow his next team to decline the team option and extend him. He would be the fourth-highest-paid player on the Warriors next season if he accepted the offer. Golden State is the only NBA team that hasn’t made an acquisition in the offseason due to the lack of a resolution with Kuminga. According to the collective bargaining agreement, the contract proposed by the Warriors of one plus one would have an inherent no-trade clause, as Kuminga’s next team would not retain his Bird rights. That would give Kuminga a level of control over his next NBA home, should the Warriors decide to move him. But the Warriors have requested that he waive that implicit no-trade clause. That negotiation is another example of the ongoing back-and-forth for control of Kuminga’s future. That’s why, despite the short- and long-term financial risk, Kuminga is expressing his willingness to potentially accept the qualifying offer. He would be turning down almost $14 million extra next season, but would be given an implicit no-trade clause and an opportunity for unrestricted free agency next summer at age 23. Kuminga has until October 1st to sign the qualifying offer.
