{"id":869320,"date":"2026-08-26T18:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T18:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/869320\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T18:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T18:20:09","slug":"fischers-latest-kuminga-b-brown-heat-duren-jokic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/869320\/","title":{"rendered":"Fischer’s Latest: Kuminga, B. Brown, Heat, Duren, Jokic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discussing Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>\u2018s options during his latest Bleacher Report live stream<\/a> (video link), NBA insider Jake Fischer said he thinks the forward\u2019s choice will ultimately come down to the Lakers or the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

As Fischer notes, while a starting spot appears to be on the table with either team, Kuminga may prefer the Lakers because they\u2019re in a better position to pay him a $10MM+ starting salary, whereas Minnesota would likely be limited to a veteran\u2019s minimum offer or something close to it, barring cost-cutting moves.<\/p>\n

However, Los Angeles would need to work out a sign-and-trade agreement in order to offer Kuminga more than the minimum, which introduces two complicating factors \u2014 finding a trade framework that works for the Hawks, as well as reaching an agreement with the former seventh overall pick on a deal that must cover at least three seasons.<\/p>\n

Following up later on Kuminga (via Twitter<\/a>), Fischer added that he also wouldn\u2019t rule out the Bulls as being a factor. Chicago\u2019s best offer to the free agent forward without a sign-and-trade would likely be the full room exception, which starts at $9.4MM.<\/p>\n

Here are a few more items of interest from Fischer:<\/p>\n

The Sixers were viewed as a potential suitor for Bruce Brown<\/a> if they hadn\u2019t landed LeBron James<\/a>, and the Rockets also had interest in the versatile swingman earlier in the offseason, according to Fischer (video link<\/a>). Those teams don\u2019t appear to be in the mix for Brown now, and Fischer doesn\u2019t consider a return to the Nuggets to be in play, but he does expect the 30-year-old to ultimately land with a \u201cplayoff-caliber\u201d team. The Lakers are one suitor to watch, Fischer says, despite the fact that they already have 16 players on fully guaranteed contracts.
\nExploring what\u2019s next for the Heat following their Klay Thompson<\/a> addition, Fischer says he thinks free agent center Nick Richards<\/a> will likely end up signing with the team (video link<\/a>). Fischer also reports that Nikola Jovic<\/a>\u2018s four-year, $62.4MM contract is viewed as a \u201cnegative asset\u201d around the NBA at this time and suggests that Bobby Portis<\/a>\u2018 two-year, $30.1MM deal is considered \u201ceven more of a negative.\u201d If that\u2019s accurate, it surprises me a little \u2014 while Jovic is younger and clearly has more long-term upside, his contract is twice as long and Portis is a safer bet for rotation minutes in the short term.
\nFischer also checks in on the Jalen Duren<\/a> situation in Detroit (video link<\/a>), stating that he expects the Pistons to eventually work out a long-term deal and mend fences with their restricted free agent center following a protracted negotiation period, and explores the Nikola Jokic<\/a> situation in Denver (video link<\/a>), noting that rival teams will be keeping a close eye on the Nuggets and their three-time MVP. Although Jokic has indicated<\/a> he plans to sign a long-term extension with the team next summer, he\u2019ll also be eligible for unrestricted free agency at that time, so teams monitoring the big man will be rooting for the Nuggets to underachieve again in 2026\/27 and make him second-guess those plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Discussing Jonathan Kuminga\u2018s options during his latest Bleacher Report live stream (video link), NBA insider Jake Fischer said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,197963,3892,19701,7227,590,20450,3906,65416,85],"class_list":["post-869320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bobby-portis","tag-bruce-brown","tag-jalen-duren","tag-jonathan-kuminga","tag-nba","tag-nick-richards","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-nikola-jovic","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}