With forward Jonathan Kuminga less than a week away from the deadline to decide his contractual fate with the Golden State Warriors, the league\u2019s most drawn-out (restricted) free agency situation is finally nearing an end. But the outcome, one that could have a significant impact on the Warriors\u2019 ability to keep building around Steph Curry in his golden years, remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old Kuminga has until Oct. 1 \u2014 three days into the team\u2019s training camp \u2014 to take the Warriors\u2019 qualifying offer ($7.9 million for next season) that would allow him to be an unrestricted free agent next summer while regaining control of his immediate future because of the inherent no-trade clause that comes with it. If he opts against taking the qualifying offer, he can then accept one of the more lucrative but limited offers that the Warriors have presented to him at various points of the offseason.<\/p>\n
Yet according to team sources, there\u2019s still another scenario in play here: A sign-and-trade deal with the Sacramento Kings. While the two teams went more than a month without discussing the matter during the later part of the summer, team sources said the talks between the two sides were renewed earlier this week. And while no significant progress was made in the talks, it\u2019s quite notable that the Kings \u2014 who have offered veteran guard Malik Monk and a lottery-protected, 2030 first-round pick for the chance to give Kuminga a three-year, $63 million deal \u2014 aren\u2019t giving up on the prospect of bringing him to Sacramento this season.<\/p>\n
Several obstacles to a deal remain, most notably the fact that the Warriors\u2019 interest in Monk appears to be quite muted. His contract is the primary issue, as he has a player option for the 2027-28 season worth $21.5 million that does not fit with the Warriors\u2019 future flexibility plans. There are concerns about his fit on the team as well.<\/p>\n
If they did take him on, team sources said it\u2019s likely Golden State would look to trade him elsewhere. The problem with that path, however, is that there\u2019s no clarity as to whether that would be possible anytime soon.<\/p>\n
The Warriors could create some of that desired salary cap space by trading either Buddy Hield or Moses Moody to stay under the first apron of the luxury tax, but have consistently messaged during this (painful) process that they refuse to do so, in large part, because of their affinity for both players. That messaging has grown even stronger in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
But if the Warriors are going to change their stance and do this deal, it seems clear that the Kings will have to budge when it comes to the protections on the pick. And therein lies the key question for these next few days.<\/p>\n
From the Kings\u2019 vantage point, Kuminga has not performed like a lottery pick and thus shouldn\u2019t require an unprotected first-round pick in return. If the pick doesn\u2019t convey in 2030, it becomes the least favorable of the 2031 first-rounders between Sacramento and San Antonio. One way or another, the Warriors would get a first-round pick in the current construction of the deal. What\u2019s more, the Kings see Monk as a dynamic player who they\u2019d rather not lose and who would help the Warriors right away \u2014 contract complications aside.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s highly unlikely that the Kings would lift the protections entirely, but it\u2019s fair to wonder if the prospect of them lowering them in the coming days might be enough to get a deal done. The Warriors\u2019 unwelcome alternative, one in which they lose the seventh pick in the 2021 draft for nothing when he walks next summer, is staring them right in the face. So long as Kuminga is truly willing to take the qualifying offer, of course.<\/p>\n
As team sources confirmed to The Athletic, the Warriors recently upped their offer and have proposed deals that include $48 million in guaranteed money (a three-year deal with a team option in the third season). Kuminga\u2019s final decision, in essence, comes down to the analysis of short-term finances (a $40 million gap in guaranteed money between those two Warriors options) versus long-term freedom (the chance to go where he wants a year from now).<\/p>\n
His final decision, and the ramifications that come with it, await.<\/p>\n
(Photo: Ezra Shaw \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With forward Jonathan Kuminga less than a week away from the deadline to decide his contractual fate with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,8217,459,10679,82],"class_list":["post-167359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-nba","tag-sacramento-kings","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}