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Jonathan Kuminga Rumors
Cam Thomas signing one-year, $6 million qualifying offer to return to Brooklyn
Restricted free agent Cam Thomas is signing a one-year, $6 million qualifying offer to return to the Brooklyn Nets, sources told ESPN on Thursday. The Nets were unable to reach a long-term deal with Thomas, so the 23-year-old high-scoring guard opted for the qualifying offer that gives him a full no-trade clause and sets him for unrestricted free agency next summer with at least 10 teams set to have cap space. Thomas is the first among the final restricted free agents in the NBA to land on a decision (including the Chicago Bulls' Josh Giddey, Golden State Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga, Philadelphia 76ers' Quentin Grimes). Thomas is only the fifth former first-round pick to sign a qualifying offer since 2017.
Warriors one-year qualifying offer is most enticing option to Jonathan Kuminga
The one-year, $7.9 million qualifying offer remains the most attractive offer to Kuminga at the moment, sources continue to tell NBC Sports Bay Area. The Warriors have offered a two-year contract worth roughly $45 million, but are holding strong to a team option for the second year, while Kuminga and his camp have made it clear they want a player option for Year 2.
Year 1 of the Warriors’ offer is $21.75 million, per sources, but because of the base salary compensation rule, Kuminga’s outgoing salary is equal to half of that. So, much of this entire situation comes down to control.
Malcolm Brogdon on the Warriors, Knicks and Timberwolves radars
In Brogdon's case, Golden State's long-running stalemate with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga has contributed to the uncomfortable wait. We won't know if the Warriors emerge with more serious interest in Brogdon until the state of their roster and luxury tax bill becomes clear in the wake of a resolution to Kuminga's fate and the subsequent signings that have been long anticipated to bring Al Horford, De'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II and second-round pick Will Richard into the Bay Area fold.
Kings' odds of signing Russell Westbrook go up if and when they're fully out on Jonathan Kuminga
The Sacramento Kings, who have been the most serious suitors in sign-and-trade scenarios, have been resisting the urge to make other, smaller moves all summer long because the Kuminga pursuit was a bigger priority. More specifically, the odds of a Russell Westbrook signing go up if they know they’re completely out on Kuminga (though they aren’t expected to make that move unless they can make room in the rotation by trading a guard).
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Brandin Podziemski on Jonathan Kuminga: 'We all want him to be in Golden State'
But how do Golden State’s players actually feel about the situation? Third-year guard Brandin Podziemski revealed how he and his Warriors teammates view the Kuminga noise in a conversation with 95.7 The Game’s “Willard and Dibs” on Wednesday. “Obviously, everybody on our team knows it's the media’s job to try to nitpick and find things to write and talk about and separate teammates so they have a story to write,” Podziemski told Mark Willard and Dan Dibley. “Like, we all know that’s how it works; especially the guys who have been around it for 10 to 15 years, they know how it works. “Everybody in the locker room knows no matter how that situation’s resolved, it doesn’t change our viewpoint of JK as a person [and] as a player. Obviously, we all want him to be in Golden State; that’s the whole point. But it doesn’t change anything.”
“The media is going to portray it one way to try and make people think differently of it,” Podziemski told Willard and Dibley. “But it doesn’t change my perspective. I know all I can control is being the best version of Brandin Podziemski that I can be going into my third year, and everything else is going to fall how it may.”
And Kuminga remains a square peg in a system designed for those who fit neatly into round holes. “One guy that was put in a similar situation is Paul George when he got to Indiana,” one NBA front-office executive tells NBC Sports Bay Area. “When he got there, they were right on the cusp. Danny Granger was playing in front of him, and Lance Stephenson was there. And eventually, he was able to play with that David West group; they were competing for championships. “But it was like the perfect setup for Paul. They weren’t a big-market team, but they were a good team. He got a chance to grow while they were trying to win. And a lot of his mistakes weren't as magnified as Kuminga’s have been because of the team he is on.”
Warriors not willing to offer Jonathan Kuminga more than two years, $45 million
The Warriors and Kuminga — if you somehow haven't heard, read or watched this summer — remain at a contract impasse as Labor Day Weekend draws near. Golden State has not been willing to offer the 22-year-old forward more than $45 million over two years, league sources say, in what would be the second NBA contract for 2021's seventh overall pick.
Golden State has not been willing to offer the 22-year-old forward more than $45 million over two years, league sources say, in what would be the second NBA contract for 2021's seventh overall pick.
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Warriors interested in Seth Curry, Malcolm Brogdon, Cody Martin
We've reported previously that Seth Curry and Malcolm Brogdon are candidates for a Warriors roster spot after Kuminga's situation is resolved and the above three signings are completed. Another name on the Warriors' list of bench targets, sources say, is Cody Martin.
Warriors still confident Al Horford will sign with them
The Golden State Warriors “still remain very confident” Al Horford will sign with them, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Horford is an unrestricted free agent. The Warriors are waiting for Jonathan Kuminga‘s restricted free agency to get handled before signing Horford, who won’t return to the Boston Celtics. “I can tell you that the Warriors still remain very confident that Al Horford is waiting for whatever finality will come to Jonathan Kuminga’s restricted free agency with Golden State,” Fischer said.
“Depending on where the Warriors land in cap tax situation, I believe he (Horford) is slated to potentially make upwards of the full taxpayer mid-level exception,” Fischer said. “And there’s also been some discussion about whether or not he could potentially be receiving a two-year deal with a player option on his deal as well.”
However, ESPN's Ramona Shelburne believes she has an easy fix for both sides, which could potentially end the stalemate and get everyone back on the same page. Shelburne's idea would be to add an extra year to the Warriors' current contract offer. Shelburne's comments came via an Aug. 15 episode of ESPN's NBA Today. “I think he’s going to be on the Warriors,” Shelburne said. "And the only question is, how much are they paying him? I think there’s an easy solution here, which is that the Warriors give him an extra year. It’ll be like a two-plus-one, where he has a little more control, a little more guaranteed money...And I do think the Warriors see him as somebody who’s, if he wants to call it, a building block, I don’t know if I would call it that, but somebody they want around for a long time, because they have 35-year-olds on their team. I know the owner, Joe Lacob has told him this. He loves Jonathan Kuminga. He is the reason that they’ve never included him in trades, because they see the potential in him.”
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