Jonathan Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors continue to be stuck in negotiations over the restricted free agent’s next contract, and while the Warriors made a recent concession to add a third year to their offer, Kuminga still isn’t willing to budge on his stance against the final year of the deal being a team option.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater, the Warriors recently bumped their offer up to three years, $75.2 million — from two years, $45 million — but continue to insist on the final year being a team option. The only offer Golden State has made without a team option is a three-year, $54 million deal with no options.
Kuminga’s camp reportedly won’t agree to a team option unless the annual figure is closer to $30 million and would be willing to go as low as $20 million annually to get a player option in the final year of the deal. Their offer for a compromise has been a one-year deal that increases what he would make on the $8 million qualifying offer and get him to unrestricted free agency next summer, but he would waive his inherent no-trade clause on such a deal to allow the Warriors to trade him at the deadline.
The Warriors have been insisting on having multiple years on the deal, however. They’ve already been unwilling to part with Kuminga in sign-and-trade offers from the Suns and Kings, with Charania and Slater reporting Golden State declined Sacramento’s offer of a first-round pick and Malik Monk for Kuminga.
The offers for Kuminga on an expiring contract with no team control over future years wouldn’t get any better than that, and Golden State’s front office (or, at least, ownership) still seems to hold out some belief that someone will value him as a star and offer a big trade package for him if he’s on a more team-friendly deal. Kuminga’s camp has no interest in facilitating such a deal by giving in on the team option (or the no-trade clause on a shorter-term deal).
As such, the stalemate continues. While this latest reporting shows that there’s at least been some kind of movement from the Warriors to give a bit more and try to get this done, the sticking points remain the same and neither side seems willing to compromise on those details.
