Jonathan Kuminga Rejects Warriors Offer: Where Will He Play Next Season?
The Golden State Warriors continue negotiations with Jonathan Kuminga, but the player, a restricted free agent, is still rejecting the contract offer for two years and $45 million. 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 a no-trade clause. Your agent, Aaron Turner, presented the Warriors with several schemes during the summer league meetings in Las Vegas, including a three-year deal for around $82 million that would allow the Warriors to stay below the second salary cap to use the taxpayer mid-level exception. Kuminga and Turner have used the month of July to explore signing and trade options. The most significant negotiations have been with the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns, receiving offers of up to four years for a total of almost 90 million dollars, including a player option for the last season. The Warriors have not shown interest in the trades offered by the Kings and Suns for Kuminga. In recent days, they have begun to signal a plan to completely cut off sign-and-trade talks, using their influence as a restricted free agent to the fullest. His current stance is that Kuminga will be on the Warriors’ roster to start next season, either through his two-year offer or the one-year, $7.9 million qualifying offer, whichever 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, which is demonstrated, in part, through the player option. Phoenix’s proposal also guarantees almost 70 million dollars more than the Warriors’ offer.This ongoing stagnation is largely about control, and the dispute over the option is fundamental. Kuminga believes that accepting the Warriors’ two-year offer with a team option, along with waiving the no-trade clause, cedes too much control to a franchise that he believes has stalled and prolonged his career for four seasons. The Suns and Kings have proposed to Kuminga the defined type of role that has eluded him with the Warriors. Golden State coach Steve Kerr made several comments after the Jimmy Butler trade, that Kuminga’s fit alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green made it difficult to give him significant minutes consistently. 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 concept of a two-year team option. The deal is purposely structured to be tradeable 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 has not made any offseason acquisitions due to the lack of resolution with Kuminga. According to the collective bargaining agreement, the Warriors’ proposed one-plus-one contract 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 destination in the NBA, should the Warriors decide to trade him. But the Warriors have asked him to 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 reject almost 14 million additional dollars 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.I’m not in a hurry to close a deal with the Warriors.
Jonathan Kuminga
