The stalemate between the Golden State Warriors and restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga is now the focal point of the NBA offseason, and Wednesday we learned exactly how far apart the two sides are in contract talks.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater, the Warriors are offering a two-year, $45 million deal, while Kuminga is requesting a three-year, $82 million contract. The biggest issue with the Warriors’ offer isn’t just the financials — although it’s clear Kuminga still wants north of $25 million per year, which seemingly no one is willing to offer — but the details and contract structure.
The Warriors’ offer reportedly includes a team option for the second year and includes language that would take away the implied no-trade clause Kuminga would get from a deal with only one guaranteed year on it. That is an aggressively one-sided contract offer, and Kuminga and his representation are understandably not interested in signing a deal with that kind of structure.
There would be literally no upside for Kuminga in that framework. He wouldn’t be able to play his way into a bigger deal next summer with the Warriors holding a team option, meaning if he over-performs he’d be back on a $22.5 million deal in 2026-27. On top of that, waiving his ability to decline a trade would take away his ability to steer himself into the kind of situation he prefers, where he could start and have a larger role — and, again, the team trading for him would then have the team option on him.
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To be clear, the counterproposal from Kuminga’s side of three years, $82 million is above what the market would give him, and it’s no surprise Golden State has no interest in meeting that request. Other executives around the league indicated they’d value Kuminga in the $17-25 million range, and at $27.3 million over three years, the Warriors would be taking on the risk of him not having plus trade value.
Per Charania and Slater, the Suns and Kings — the two teams most interested in a Kuminga sign-and-trade — have been willing to go as high as four years, $90 million with a player option. The problem for Kuminga is the Warriors don’t want anything those two teams have to offer — and probably don’t want to send him to a team in their division.
Of the two offers on the table, Kuminga would reportedly prefer to sign the $7.9 million qualifying offer next year than the Warriors two-year deal. That would at least give him the chance to play his way into a bigger contract next summer as an unrestricted free agent. The next two months will determine if the two sides can find a compromise, but there’s no end in sight to this saga.
