Jonathan Kuminga reportedly wants to join the Sacramento Kings. The restricted free agent has met with Kings brass, and they have offered him a starting role, according to ESPN’s Marc Spears.
The problem is that Sacramento does not have the cap space to sign him. In order to acquire Kuminga, it would have to work out a sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors, who have not been enamored by the offers it has proposed.
“He wants to go, and the Kings are offering a starting spot: power forward, next to Keegan Murray, next to [Domantas] Sabonis,” Spears said on “NBA Today” on Wednesday. “He’s talked on a Zoom call with Scott Perry — as you know, the GM; B.J. Armstrong, the assistant GM; and also with [Doug Christie], their head coach, so he’s in, he wants to go there.”
Spears said that the Kings have put Malik Monk and a protected first-round pick on the table. “The Warriors don’t like the first,” he said.
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Kuminga remains in limbo and Golden State’s offseason is effectively on hold, too. The Phoenix Suns are also interested in Kuminga, but they can’t sign him outright, either, and their proposed package of Royce O’Neale, Nick Richards and some second-round picks isn’t enough for the Warriors, Spears said.
Golden State’s stance is straightforward, according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater and Shams Charania: It expects Kuminga to return next season, whether he signs his one-year, $7.9 million qualifying offer or the two-year, $45 million contract (with a team option on Year 2 and no de facto no-trade clause) that it has offered him. Sacramento and Phoenix have offered Kuminga long-term deals, but those offers are contingent on the Warriors agreeing to a sign-and-trade. If he signs the two-year deal, he could be traded in mid-January and then sign an extension with his new team.
Let’s say that, despite Golden State signaling that it’s not interested in a sign-and-trade, the Kings somehow manage to get a deal done. What would they do next? They might see Kuminga as a potential star, but how many touches and shot attempts would he get on a team that features Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Dennis Schröder?
Between DeRozan, LaVine and Schröder, who comes off the bench? The irony here is that, if Kuminga wants the ball in his hands, being the Warriors’ sixth man might be a better plan than starting for this particular team. It’s easy to say that Sacramento could just trade the soon-to-be-36-year-old DeRozan, but there are only two teams — the Brooklyn Nets and the Utah Jazz — that can easily absorb his $24.8 million salary. Both are rebuilding.
All of this is to say that everything about the Kings’ pursuit of Kuminga is complicated. They may value him highly, but are they so motivated to get a deal done that they will move other pieces around and present Golden State with an offer it finds acceptable? If not, then Kuminga will likely join the long list of restricted free agents who didn’t get what they wanted.
