The Golden State Warriors have seen their entire offseason revolve around one name: Jonathan Kuminga. The franchise has failed to find a solution that is acceptable to the player and his agent, Aaron Turner, who have fought for more control over his future.
Considering the developments, or rather the lack of them, Marc Stein of The Stein Line has made one final prediction about the situation.
“I tend to believe Kuminga will ultimately accept the Warriors' three-year offer — provided it is still on the table — rather than attempt to play out next season on the one-year qualifier,” he said.
The Warriors’ current three-year offer to Kuminga is worth slightly above $75 million. However, it has a team option for the third year and also strips Kuminga of his right to block any trade in Year 1.
As conveyed by his agent in various recent interviews, this increases the likelihood of the 22-year-old getting traded between the Dec. 15 and the Feb. 5 trade deadline next offseason. Hence, while the offer undoubtedly does not give the Warriors star what he has fought for the entire summer, not signing it means losing out on huge money.
The three-year contract comes with around $48 million in guaranteed money despite the team option in Year 3. The qualifying offer (QO), worth $7.9 million, would not only give him the right to block any trade, but he would also be betting on himself and become an unrestricted free agent next year.
In that sense, Marc Stein does see the attractiveness of the QO, even though he believes it will take a lot of guts from Kuminga.
“Kudos to Kuminga if I’m wrong and he goes the qualifier route to bet on himself. He obviously does not want to be traded at the Warriors’ whim but would be surrendering a good bit of long-term financial security to retain the right to control that,” he explained.
Hence, as things stand, the most likely solution appears to be the three-year deal, which will mean considerable money for JK despite not giving him the control he clearly craves.
