More than a month into free agency and there isn’t any indication that Jonathan Kuminga and the Warriors are any closer to a deal than they were on July 1.
While the two sides still can’t agree on a new contract, the Warriors have apparently moved on from the idea of sending Kuminga elsewhere in a sign-and-trade. According to Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard, the Warriors won’t trade Kuminga this summer and plan on having him on the roster to start next season — either on a new deal or the qualifying offer.
“The word I got when I checked in with a Warriors source on Sunday: Kuminga won’t be traded this summer,” Kawakami reported. “He’ll be back on the Warriors’ roster to start the season. And it’ll either come when he signs the Warriors’ offer or accepts the $7.9 million one-year qualifying offer.”
This isn’t exactly a surprise. The Warriors have been reportedly reluctant to trade Kuminga all summer, but it is an escalation from not wanting to make a trade to stating outright that they won’t. Now, this is the kind of thing you would want out there if you were trying to push a team like the Sacramento Kings to up their offer and include an unprotected pick, but Kawakami notes much of this stems from ownership still wanting Kuminga around. He reports Joe Lacob still believes in Kuminga’s potential and refuses to trade him just to resolve the issue. If no one will meet the Warriors’ demands on return, they’d rather have a disgruntled Kuminga on the roster than trading him for less than they value him.
Despite this staunch belief in Kuminga’s ability, however, the Warriors also won’t pay him like you would a player you project to have star potential. The offer on the table remains a two-year, $45 million contract with a team option in the second year that asks Kuminga to waive his implied no-trade clause for having just a one year guarantee.
It seems unlikely either side budges on their stance before the October 1 deadline for Kuminga to sign the qualifying offer. At that point, we’ll find out who is bluffing and who really means it when they say they have a hard line. In the meantime, don’t expect a sudden Kuminga trade to materialize, and Warriors fans will have to continue waiting to finally get involved in the free agency fun.
