The ongoing negotiations between the Golden State Warriors and restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga have yet to reach a conclusion.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob reportedly posed the question “Do you want to be here?” to the forward, per ESPN’s Anthony Slater and Shams Charania. Kuminga replied: “Do you even want me here?”
While it remains uncertain what the Warriors’ plans are for Kuminga for the 2025-26 season, there was once a time Lacob was adamant the forward remain with Golden State.
“Lacob has remained a staunch Kuminga supporter and vocal believer in his long-term future,” Slater and Charania wrote. “He voiced an unwillingness to include Kuminga in a proposed trade from Chicago for Alex Caruso a couple of seasons back, sources said, and was still glowing about Kuminga’s performance in May after he rose from out of Steve Kerr’s first-round rotation to the team’s leading scorer in the second-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.”
The Warriors’ latest reported offer to the forward is a three-year, $72.5 million deal with a team option for the third year. Kuminga is willing to accept the offer, under one condition.
The 22-year-old wants Golden State to change the team option to a player option before he signs the deal. Kuminga’s agent, Aaron Turner, explained why this is such an important factor in the decision process.
“The player option to him is super important… JK is clearly the guy that needs to sacrifice here for this to work,” Turner said on 95.7 The Game last week. “Okay, so that’s fine. He’s passing up opportunities where they are saying, I mean, B.J. Armstrong (Kings assistant GM) made a strong comment to JK like, ‘We want you to be you. We don’t want you to change a thing. Play your game.’ He can’t do that fully in Golden State.”
The ongoing confusion on Kuminga’s role with the Warriors has been an added layer to the saga, but a decision will have to be made with the Oct. 1 deadline to accept the qualifying offer quickly approaching.
There are reports Kuminga wants out of Golden State, but it’s also fair to wonder how much the Warriors would use the forward in a bench role next season.
