The Sacramento Kings have been the team most strongly linked to Jonathan Kuminga since free agency opened, but the pacific rival have so far been unwilling to meet the trade demands set by the Golden State Warriors.

Most notably the Kings previously offered a package of Dario Saric, Devin Carter and draft capital, only for the Warriors to promptly turn that down. They may have also rejected another proposed deal as well, with Golden State reportedly showing little interest in 6x All-Star DeMar DeRozan.

A Jonathan Kuminga-DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade can’t happen

While the likes of Saric, Carter and Malik Monk have all come up in relation to a Kuminga sign-and-trade, Sam Amick of The Athletic also added DeRozan to the conversation during the latest episode of the Warriors Plus-Minus podcast.

“And my understanding is I don’t think that the Warriors were really interested in Carter. You know, same goes for DeMar DeRozan. So it’s like, you know, those types of things are issues,” Amick said.

DeRozan has been one of the most consistent scorers in the entire league across the course of his 16-year career, with the mid-range maestro still posting healthy averages of 22.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists last season on 47.7% shooting from the floor.

For a team in need of another ball-handler and playmaker beyond Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, DeRozan would make some sense for the Warriors as a pure bucket-getter. Perhaps they would look past the flaws in his 3-point shooting and the defensive side of the ball just to get this Kuminga situation over and done with.

Unfortunately they can’t. Base-year compensation rules have put a dent in Golden State’s hopes of finding real value in a Kuminga sign-and-trade, and ruin any chance of them landing DeRozan right now.

DeRozan is set to make $24.8 million and $25.7 million the final two years of his contract. Perhaps in a usual scenario that’s fine for the Warriors given it aligns perfectly with their plan for flexibility in the 2027 offseason, but for now the math simply doesn’t work.

The only way Golden State could really acquire DeRozan is by sending out Moses Moody or Buddy Hield along with Kuminga, with one of those two players likely needing to head to a third team given the Kings themselves are hard-capped at the first apron.

Giving up Kuminga for DeRozan may be one thing, but adding another rotation point piece would likely prove too much for the Warriors to stomach, unless they were also getting significant draft capital in the process.

It’s not impossible to see DeRozan landing with the Warriors or heading to a third team in some form of a Kuminga trade, but it’s not as simple as swapping those two players as the complicated nature of this process continues to play out.