The Jonathan Kuminga saga has finally come to a close (sort of) as the soon-to-be 23-year-old agreed to a two-year, $48.5 million deal with the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, with the second year being a team option. This situation can only be categorized as “sort of” resolved, of course, because questions remain.
Here are three main ones.
1. Will Kuminga still be traded?
The smart money says yes. The Warriors, outside of Joe Lacob, do not appear in any way committed to Kuminga and Kuminga did everything he could to get away from the Warriors. This is a lack-of-options marriage, and when and if it can end in any sort of beneficial way for the Warriors, they’ll likely pull the trigger.
Until that happens, however, both sides are highly incentivized for Kuminga to play well. If that happens, Golden State either has a major contributor heading into the playoffs on a team-friendly deal or a high-value trade chip. Kuminga, meanwhile, is auditioning for his next contract; that’s why he settled on the two-year deal instead of the three years Golden State was also offering (with the third year being the team option), because he wants to guarantee free agency a year sooner. He also is a far more attractive player for teams that might be looking to trade for him during the season with that second year guaranteed from a team perspective, which would not have been the case had Kuminga take the one-year, $7.9 million qualifying offer.
All of this is to say, this is a deal that is structured to keep the possibility of trading Kuminga at any point before the February deadline alive and well. It feels a lot like when the Warriors took back D’Angelo Russell in the sign and trade for Kevin Durant in the summer of 2019. They never wanted Russell. He never fit with the way Golden State plays. The plan, no matter what they said publicly, was always to trade him. It seems likely that is still the plan with Kuminga, as well. This has just bought them some more time.
2. What will Kuminga’s role be?
This is interesting. For the first few months of…
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