The Golden State Warriors have been stuck in a self-inflicted purgatory all summer due to their stalemate with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga, whose cap hold is tying up all of the Warriors’ space to sign free agents.
As a result, the Warriors are the only team yet to make an official signing this offseason, but have a number of deals reportedly lined up with the likes of Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II — with Malcolm Brogdon also on their radar. However, while those players were patient in waiting around for a deal in July and August, as the season is less than two months away, they are understandably wanting to know what’s going on.
According to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area, Horford and the other free agents are “quietly pleading for clarity” on the Kuminga situation. The problem is, the two sides still don’t seem to be any closer to a resolution.
The Warriors and Kuminga haven’t been close to a deal all summer and every reported update since the end of July has indicated the two sides aren’t talking much, if at all. The hope from Warriors fans (and likely the free agents waiting to sign) was that with two of the four major restricted free agents signing in the past week, perhaps that would push Kuminga and Golden State to start working towards a putting an end to this saga.
Cam Thomas signed the qualifying offer in Brooklyn, while Josh Giddey inked a four-year, $100 million deal in Chicago. Those two finally putting pen to paper further shifted focus to Kuminga and 76ers‘ guard Quentin Grimes. Grimes is reportedly waiting on the Sixers to make a move to clear some more cap space and is expected to get resolved in the coming weeks, but Kuminga’s situation is much murkier.
Per Poole, Kuminga still prefers the qualifying offer to the current two-year deal the Warriors are offering, which lines up with the reporting from a month ago. That indicates there still hasn’t been any meaningful dialogue between the two sides for some time, and unfortunately for Warriors fans and the group of free agents stuck in a holding pattern, this may drag out all the way to the October 1 deadline for signing the qualifying offer.
