Why Jonathan Kuminga, Warriors remain locked in a stalemate over qualifying offer talk

New York Times

2 days ago

When I headed to the Hawaiian islands in mid-July for an NBA offseason family vacation, it was with an expectation that there would be a work interruption at some point during the 11-day stay.
The Jonathan Kuminga situation would surely be resolved — and subsequently covered — by then, right?
Yet here we are with the calendar turning to August, and the Golden State Warriors forward is still stuck in a restricted free agency staring contest with the team that he has no interest in playing for and sending cryptic social media posts as a reminder of that reality.
Jonathan Kuminga via IG: 'I'll bet on myself all day' 👀
He also tagged his agent. pic.twitter.com/i3X7BQ29qS
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) July 30, 2025
The Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns, meanwhile, have been unable to convince the Warriors to send Kuminga their way via sign-and-trade.
Pour out a Mai Tai for all of the parties involved. This surely isn't how they'd hoped to spend these dog days of the summer.
As ESPN reported on Wednesday, league sources confirmed that Kuminga has spurned the Warriors' two-year, $45 million offer (team option second season) and is now signaling an increased willingness to potentially accept the $7.9 million qualifying offer for next season. That's the nuclear option, so to speak, one that would allow him to be an unrestricted free agent next summer but could also spell disaster if he were to get hurt or underperform. As our Fred Katz wrote recently, it's quite complicated for both sides.
Advertisement
The deadline to make such a move is Oct. 1. So yes, in other words, there's plenty more time to potentially kill on this front.
Only the 22-year-old and his agent, Aaron Turner, know if he's truly considering that problematic path, but the Warriors are surely hoping this is a bluff. They want the salary slot that would come with him earning $21.75 million next season, just like they want him to waive the no-trade clause that would be built into that sort of deal as a means to their ultimate end: Adding more high-end talent around Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green in pursuit of yet another title.
Their Plan A at the moment is to shut down communication with interested teams en route to convincing Kuminga to take this current deal, one that would leave them just below the second apron luxury tax line. From there, the Warriors would (unofficially) plan on revisiting the Kuminga trade market closer to the February deadline.
It's quite clear that Plan B — these Kings and Suns ideas — clearly isn't cutting it.
Per team sources, the talks between the Suns and Warriors have never progressed in any sort of serious manner. So while it's certainly notable that Phoenix is being so aggressive with its contract offer — four years and a combined $90 million, per ESPN — that part is irrelevant so long as Golden State continues to show zero interest in what the Suns have to offer.
As for the Kings, who last spoke with the Warriors earlier this week, team sources say they've offered a three-year, $63 million deal for Kuminga in a proposal that would send veteran guard Malik Monk and their 2030 first-round pick (lottery protected) to the Warriors. If that pick didn't convey, then the Warriors would get the least favorable of the Kings or San Antonio's first-round pick in 2031. Those protections have been the primary sticking point, team sources said, as the Warriors have insisted that the first-rounder be unprotected. Thus, the stalemate.
Advertisement
For the Kings, who reunited with former Kings vice president of basketball operations (and former Knicks general manager) Scott Perry in mid-April after parting ways with Monte McNair, they see Kuminga as a young talent who is certainly worthy of a significant, and calculated, investment. The price point of their offer is directly tied to their desire to not be a tax-paying team this season.
That situation could be a win-win for both sides. The Kings would add a young, promising piece during this time of slow, post-De'Aaron Fox trade transition when their roster is loaded with high-priced veterans. Kuminga, in turn, could establish himself as an All-Star-caliber player who is deserving of a massive raise when he's a free agent again in the summer of 2028. The fact that he can play power forward, while potentially allowing Keegan Murray to return to his preferred position at small forward, is seen by the Kings as a bonus, as well. But obstacles, chief among them the Kings' apparent commitment to patience and prudence, abound.
The Warriors, who have possible free agent additions like Al Horford, De'Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II waiting in the wings while they navigate these turbulent Kuminga waters, know that their window of contention is closing rapidly. They're also acutely aware that botching this Kuminga situation would only hasten the shuttering, and that it makes no financial sense in the long-term for Kuminga to shock the basketball world and go the qualifying offer route.
Thus, the waiting game — and the utter absence of blinking from all sides — continues.