The Warriors have issued qualifying offers to three players, making them restricted free agents, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link).
That trio includes forward Jonathan Kuminga, one of this summer’s most intriguing young free agents. The 22-year-old received a qualifying offer worth roughly $7.98MM. The other two players getting qualifying offers from the Warriors are Taran Armstrong and Nico Mannion — they both received two-way QOs.
Kuminga, whose season was derailed in January by a badly sprained ankle that sidelined him for over two months, has an inconsistent rotation role for Golden State in 2024/25, continuing a years-long trend. He averaged just 24.3 minutes per game and struggled to settle into a regular role following the trade-deadline acquisition of Jimmy Butler, since lineups featuring Kuminga, Butler, and Draymond Green didn’t feature enough shooting to be viable. That trio had a -24.9 net rating in just 38 minutes together during the regular season.
Kuminga, who posted career lows in shooting percentage (45.4%) and three-point percentage (30.5%), even earned DNP-CDs during a handful of games at the end of the season, in the play-in, and in the first round of the playoffs. However, a Stephen Curry hamstring strain in the second round of the postseason opened the door for him to reclaim a major offensive role and give his stock a boost entering free agency — he averaged 24.3 points per night on .554/.389/.720 shooting in those games.
Kuminga spoke recently about wanting to claim more of a featured role going forward, whether that happens with the Warriors or another team.
As we explain in our glossary entry, a qualifying offer is a procedural one-year contract offer, with the value determined by the player’s draft slot and/or previous salary. For some RFAs, the qualifying offer simply serve as a placeholder while the player and the team work out a multiyear deal. In other cases – especially for two-way players like Armstrong – the QO is more likely to be accepted.
Mannion hasn’t been with the Warriors since 2021, having played overseas since then, but the team continues to tender him a two-way qualifying offer every June in order to retain his RFA rights in case he eventually returns to the NBA.
Didn’t know Uncle Nico still held so much juice
they finally traded away Jessup rights. Last year there was talk of him trying out for team. He is making more money overseas than being a 2 way player here.
I dont think he ever got good enough to warrent a 2 way
Whoa ! And what about locking up Smiley while they are at it ? 🤣
Please don’t remind me of that horrible GM decision from a few years ago that cost the warriors 2 second round picks.
In the current CBA every team in a trade has to “touch” each other team. So in a 4 team deal you have to include something that goes to each team. This is why you will get protected seconds and no value international rights getting swapped in weird ways where they send 2nds back and forth from some of the teams and nothing else.
Lopez-Kuminga-Green-Butler-Curry = chip
Doritos or Lays ?
I am shocked no Durant and Giannis on that chip? He must be downsizing the packages…lol
*Sigh*
Title, you nerd.
JK best play is do a 1 year deal and be a free agent next year when more teams have money to spend.
Yeah he is screwed this season. Nets are the only team with any cap space left
I was Nets. I sign him today. Make Warriors make a decision now. From what I have read. Warriors can sign Kuminga now to a three year deal. Then trade him at Feb TD for equal contract value. Seems best scenario to me.
no thanks.
> JK best play is do a 1 year deal and be a free agent
> next year
Judging by the Dunleavey-Kawakami interview on Thursday, JK’s camp has told the Warriors exactly that: he’s prepared to take 1 yr for $8M and walk.
That’s why Dunleavey is saying publicly now that JK can fulfill his career goals as a Warrior and should sign a long-term deal. If the W’s won’t commit to JK now that he’ll have a meaningful role, he will not sign with them.
Also, it was very interesting to hear Dunleavey say the W’s tried to get a mid first round pick, and were offering current assets to do it. The FO is also thinking about 2028 and beyond, not just this coming season. The FO may well make moves that reduce competitiveness this year to make the team better after Steph leaves.
Again, we see the conflicting goals between Kerr and owner/GM, between the present and the mid-term. Kerr openly states that he doesn’t see a key role for JK with the current roster. Owner/management openly states it wants to keep JK and acquire more young talent to be better in 2028 and beyond.
Its 7M though. Like would he really get more than the 3/75 on a 2+1 or something that they offer to take 17M less?
When the alternative is trashing your career, absolutely, he will give up $17M in year 1.
He’s only 22 years old, with, in his mind, 15 years remaining. In his mind playing for Kerr for 2 more years will cost him hundreds of millions.
Clearly, Dunleavey is taking the position seriously.
Thats insane. It would be equivalent to his entire earnings to this point. He knows if he signs and it isnt working they will ship him as matching salary if nothing else. In the modern NBA you take the money and then try and force your way out if you hate it.
> That’s insane.
That’s your opinion. But Kuminga’s position is rational in view of the facts.
Kuminga and his camp believe Kerr wants Kuminga gone. True or not, that’s a huge obstacle to signing a contract.
Kuminga believes it’s pointless to trust in Kerr anymore. Beyond what JK perceives as a trail of broken promises, Kerr made a point in an interview after the season that he couldn’t see Kuminga playing a key role alongside Steph and Jimmy because of Kuminga’s style of play.
I dont think any of that matters. You just cant turn down 75M to take 7.5M its objectively insane. If he does that and tears an ACL he makes almost nothing. Maybe players should say no more, but they never turn down the massive guarantee to take the tiny deal and bet they get more.
Almost all the ones that we know of where they have regretted it. DS could have had a big deal from LA and instead bounced around on vet min – MLE deals. Reggie Bullock sued his agent for advising him to turn down his big deal and made like 1/8 over the term of the original offer. Players always take the money because 100M is 100M.
You’ve spoken JK and know what he is thinking?
Huh? Why are they holding their rights over Mannion? Maybe he wants to come here but not play there? It’s been years since they drafted him.
Because in a trade every team has to “touch” each other with a piece in the transaction, and the easiest to do it with are oversees players you have the rights for since they count as a thing going between the teams without any salary or value really
Hottest Free Agents – just my opinion
Top 5 available free agents
Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Ty Jerome
Jonathan Kuminga
Quentin Grimes
Dennis Schröder
Unavailable FA
Harden
Turner
Randle
Giddey
Bobby
Huge salary cap is not a good thing
I think Bobby P is gettable but yea for those who think the list is grander this iabout it folks !
Beasley as well but he’s prolly goin back to Det
76ers are expected to offer Quentin Grimes a contract 3 year $60 million. This offer would keep them below the second apron while still exceeding the non-taxpayer MLE
Grimes wants money, so …
Yeah Portis is probably the most available and underrated FA available. He said he’s looking to get paid… it’s obviously not good for him that no teams have cap space.
I would love to sign him as a Nets fan. I am going after Aldama first because he’s younger, but if the Grizz match, then I sign Portis.
Think he can be got for a 3/45 which is either a full Mle 3 years or just Brklyns cap space in which they can go high to low and have him be near 12 m his last year (3)
My best guess is
3 teams will battle for Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Pistons – 40% chance
Hawks – 40% chance
Nets – 20% chance
I don’t think the Nets will be involved on NAW.
You collect your assets first, then you do trade trade trade all season long
That’s what the Suns want to do.
Kuminga can backup Jimmy. Can also play with him some. So as sixth man can realistically give you 28-30 mins. Warriors just don’t know how to use him. Since they beed bigs and find any. Guys luke Kuminga are always playing out of place. That is thw irst place for a developing player to be. Do we understand that. Warriors are not interested in developing Kuminga. They have a need to play him. So its not going to work. Best you can do is a sign n trade with Nets. Claxton would have been great. But not sure they give him up now. If they can hold out till TD. That can work too.
If he re-signs, the plan is to play them together. They already stated that.
My best guess
Kuminga goes to Kings
Heat and Bulls will make terrible offer to Warriors for Kuminga
Nets are the only team that can offer Kuminga a starting salary of $20 million or more
Kuminga is a bad fit for this team. He shined slightly when we needed him after Curry went down. Partly because Curry was indeed out and Kuminga became a number 1 scoring option. We needed points and lots of em. Curry is the focal point, not Kuminga of this team. And getting another ring is the organizational focus.
Kuminga stalls the offense and defense with the other guys because as Kerr has said, he holds onto the ball and posts up and shoots terrible shots. Also his decision making stalls everything.
A high flyer yes, That is his value. Score points and not much else. His defense is good in spurts but lapses. His 3 is not good either. And his midrange is not the best.
Kuminga to MIL plus players and picks. Giannis comes here. Backup plan would be CHI, or MIA. Get a defensive player who can also score down low. Bam or Vucivic. And try to throw in a 3 point shooter as well. Huerter or someone else. That gets it done.
Of Course Giannis would have to declare – I want to be a Warrior. Not sure if he’s ready to that yet. Give it a few months.
Right, Giannis for crap. I don’t think so.
Stranger things have happened.
Dubs fans I know just cannot understand why Giannis or Durant aren’t dying to be a Warrior?
It’s viewed like an entitled destiny…
Im pretty sure if you asked Giannis playing with Steph would be pretty high on his list of destinations. I just think he wants to stay in MIL if at all possible. Durant was a special circumstance because of his history with the team. Also it cant hurt that when people like Butler show up they rave about how well the org takes care of them, and guys like Wiggins are so bummed to leave.
Giannis is not coming to the warriors. I am just tired of hearing it for the last 3 years plus. Durant is not coming back unless he wants to retire his last year here. Too many fans hold onto the past not seeing players get old and not as good as they once been.
I mean I dont think Giannis asks out till at least mid season, but Im sure that the GSW would put the best offer they could out for him, and it would just be a question of how it all played out.
Like does Giannis steer his way to certain destinations? And will the Bucks take what may be not the best offer to send him somewhere he wants to go, if its still a competitive offer ish?
i just don’t see anything the Bucks would want from the warriors to get the deal through when other teams could out bid the warriors for him. If they trade Gainnis they are in a rebuild so unless Kumionga has a break out year Bucks will go some where else in a trade.
Huh? When did Giannis say he wanted to be traded? What Durants team done since he left the Warriors?
These fans are homers who also erroneously think Kerr is a good coach, but those two aren’t dying to play next to Curry because Kerr is a miserable coach to play for who pulls half days every single day, resulting in no one they pick in the draft being developed properly. He also put a minutes limit on Curry in 2015 and then decided to put it on all players, enraging KD, who wants to play 35-40 MPG, while Kerr doesn’t want to play anyone 30+ MPG, which results in bad players getting too much playing time and easy wins that turn into losses.
Kerr has been an infuriating coach the entire time, but at least from 2015-2019 he wasn’t a true negative. Since 2020 he has been nothing but a negative, a “just showing up to cash the check”-type guy. All the worst parts of the Hamptons 5 (the arrogance, the lack of work) stayed with Kerr til present. He does not do anything to help the team win, at all, and in fact, does everything he can (playing GP2 over Kuminga) to make them lose. 2022 was pure Curry greatness and gravity (Poole, Wiggs and Klay being wide open, 24-7) and nothing else.
The Warriors MUST replace Kerr with Iguodala if they want to win another title. Kerr will always be the one getting in the way if he sticks around.
Am I correct that the $7.9M QO is added to the Apron salary, lowering their 1st Apron room from about $25M to about $17M?
Can’t vouch for the exact numbers without taking a closer look at them, but the QO does count toward the apron, yeah.
Thanks, Luke, I thought so.
They still have the cap hold on him. Its 22.9M that he counts for in cap purposes until he either accepts the QO or signs a new deal. The only way to free the room until he is under contract is to rescind the QO and let him walk.
The cap hold counts for the cap but not for the Apron salary, I believe.
Technically I guess none of it checks for the aprons until the contracts are signed, but thats sort of imaginary space below the apron until they decide to either force him to just play on the QO or trade him. Like they arent letting the asset walk for nothing, he is hard to trade with BYC, and his RFA deal will be for at bare min 18M, so without another transaction thats bigger or dumping a deal like Buddy into space theres just no realistic way they are signing a full MLE for 14M and telling Kuminga that 9M per is the best he can get.
Like the apron numbers only care about certain transactions, and then become hard caps. So all they care about is full MLE or taking 125% its not really space below the apron so much as triggered hard caps that prohibit certain transaction types. I just think its usually better to think about the cap hold money since its often much closer to a realistic contract.
See Luke’s answer to me above, the QO is counted on the Apron salary. The cap hold is irrelevant since they’re way above the cap anyway.
Kumingas not signing for 7.6M? Right. So with whatever he signs for they wont have the MLE. The first apron is only relevant to a contract they wont have the means to use. Like this isnt the Maxey situation where you can use your room and then go over to sign him. So what is apron space? Why would him only counting for the smaller amount matter? I mean I get paying attention if he actually takes the QO, but that is so unlikely when the team should offer at least 75M in guaranteed money, even if he has to wait till dec to move on. So I figure apron space is not really a thing. You just have to wait until he is on a signed contract, and see where you are, since in no scenario does he count any different after he signs.
Like the cap hold matters because you can use cap space, and then go over. Otherwise he counts as his Schrodingers contract which is x until he signs. Teams can choose to hard cap themselves before, but none would ruin the negotiating position by doing that. You get the Kyrie thing where in the negotiations they leave just enough room for a hard capping deal, but thats not really the same as hard capping yourself where you know the offer your left with is far insufficient of what you know it will take. Like it would be insane to force him into a QO because you cant offer anything else, then you just know your losing the contract and asset. It would also be one of those moves that agents would steer players away from your team for pulling.
I don’t get all the kvetching about Kuminga getting a QO. It is kinda proforma.
And if they don’t sign GP2 he becomes a UFA Monday.
I think Payton would need to sign a minimum deal to still play forthe warriors. payton injuries and his foul troubles have been hurting teh warriors. That is why they are look at guards to take his place.
Not sure he gets more than a min deal anywhere
Anyone here saying that Kuminga is worth a decent deal must be either a one sided warriors fan or delusional. There is a reason he was not used that often.
Kuminga cannot be trusted. Kuminga is athletic and can score. Kuminga is not a team player who is more worried about his own stats.
Can try to blame the coaching staff but deep down even the biggest of Warriors fans would know how many bad decisions in games he has made, how many bone headed plays. Having this guy for one more year is a negative for this team.
Anyone says he needs time to develop? I think he has had more than enough time.
On a different note, amazing how Houston has 3 good Centres, Sengun, Adams, Capella and the Warriors have? Maybe Jock Landale should go to the Warriors rather than being their 4th option. Warriors roster is terrible.