A handful of teams are interested in free agent Jonathan Kuminga this offseason, but they’ll have to match his lofty asking price. <\/p>\n
According to Los Angeles Lakers insider Jovan Buha, the Lakers could have offered Kuminga a two-year deal worth $20 million, but that was far less than what the forward was asking for. <\/p>\n
“I’ve heard that he’s been looking for closer to $20 million AAV,” Buha said. “It doesn’t have to be exactly $20 million, but closer to that, north of $15 million. I think there’s a gap right there.” <\/p>\n
ESPN’s\u00a0Anthony Slater<\/a>\u00a0reported earlier this month that the Lakers “still hope to land” Kuminga after the Atlanta Hawks declined his $24.3 million team option, with general manager Rop Pelinka and head coach JJ Redick pitching him on “a vision of being a high-minutes wing next to Luka Doncic in a spacious on-court environment conducive to Kuminga’s skill set.”<\/p>\n One avenue for Kuminga to land in Los Angeles was a potential sign-and-trade with the Hawks.\u00a0Khobi Price<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0California Post\u00a0reported earlier this month that the framework for that deal would be Kuminga going to Los Angeles and the Hawks receiving Jarred Vanderbilt and the Lakers’ 2032 first-round pick swap.<\/p>\n The Lakers’ interest reportedly has dwindled given the gap between the two sides. The Athletic’s\u00a0Dan Woike<\/a>\u00a0noted Monday that “it appears that momentum has stalled with the sides far apart on terms and L.A. not overly motivated to push significant draft capital into sign-and-trade scenarios” for Kuminga.<\/p>\n