Quentin Grimes, Sixers Still ‘Very Far Apart’
8:56 pm: Confirming that the Sixers have offered Grimes a one-year contract worth more than his qualifying offer (which would require him to waive his no-trade clause), Tony Jones of The Athletic reports that the Sixers and the RFA wing also have mutual interest in working out a longer-term deal.
While both sides are amenable to the idea of working out a four-year agreement, they’re far apart on what the money in such a contract would look like, Jones adds.
3:01 pm: Restricted free agent Quentin Grimes and the Sixers are still “very far apart on a deal” to resolve their summer-long standoff, Shams Charania of ESPN said in an appearance on NBA Today (Twitter video link).
Agent David Bauman told Charania that today was the first time the team made a “formal, hard offer” since free agency began. Bauman said Grimes won’t attend Philadelphia’s media day on Friday and he doesn’t plan to accompany the team this weekend to Abu Dhabi, where they’ll play two preseason games against the Knicks.
Charania points out that the Sixers have less incentive to offer a lengthy contract to Grimes after landing dynamic shooting guard VJ Edgecombe in the draft. Coupled with uncertainty over the health of stars Joel Embiid and Paul George, Philadelphia may not want to add another expensive deal to its payroll.
Charania suggests that the likely resolution appears to be Grimes either accepting the team’s $8.7MM qualifying offer, or possibly a larger one-year deal where Grimes would waive his no-trade clause. Either way, he would become an unrestricted free agent next summer when more teams will have money to spend.
Grimes was acquired from Dallas in a February trade, joining a team that was decimated by injuries and had difficulty fielding a competitive roster. He immediately became the Sixers’ offensive star, averaging a career-best 21.9 PPG in 28 games while shooting 46.9% from the field and 37.3% from three-point range.
He had hoped those numbers would lead to a lucrative new contract, but he ran into a difficult market for a number of restricted free agents. Josh Giddey reached a new deal with the Bulls, but Cam Thomas accepted his qualifying offer with Brooklyn and Jonathan Kuminga remains in a standoff with Golden State.
Charania also provided an update on Kuminga, saying he’s the only projected member of the Warriors‘ roster who is not attending a mini-camp that Jimmy Butler is holding in San Diego this week.
Kuminga is still locked in a “stalemate” with the team, and Charania said agent Aaron Turner told him on Wednesday that the Warriors’ insistence on a team option “still remains critical” in keeping the two sides from reaching an agreement.
Stein’s Latest: Warriors, Kuminga, Wizards, Bailey, THT, Davis
As Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack article for The Stein Line, the Warriors‘ training camp will tip off a week from today (September 30), while the deadline for Jonathan Kuminga to accept his qualifying offer arrives one day later (October 1).
That means that if Kuminga’s decision goes down to the wire, the Warriors may open camp with a significant portion of their eventual roster missing. The club is currently carrying just nine players on standard contracts and has opted not to fill the five remaining non-Kuminga roster spots until the restricted free agent’s situation is resolved in order to maximize cap flexibility.
According to Stein, the expectation around the NBA is that the five players who eventually fill the remaining third of Golden State’s roster will be Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, Seth Curry, and second-round pick Will Richard. In that scenario, Horford would be signed using the taxpayer mid-level exception, while the others would receive minimum-salary deals.
As for what happens with Kuminga, Stein says he’d be surprised if the 22-year-old sacrifices $40MM-ish in guaranteed money by signing his one-year, $8MM qualifying offer instead of accepting a reported three-year, $75MM proposal that includes a third-year team option, though he cautions that’s just informed speculation rather than sourced information.
Here’s more from Stein:
- The belief around the NBA since June’s draft is that the Wizards – who held the No. 6 overall pick – were Ace Bailey‘s preferred landing spot, says Stein. Utah ultimately drafted Bailey at No. 5. Given their apparent interest in Bailey, it raised some eyebrows when the Wizards signed Sharife Cooper to a two-way contract last week, according to Stein. Cooper, who had been out of the NBA since the 2021/22 season, is the son of Bailey’s manager Omar Cooper.
- Although six-year NBA veteran Talen Horton-Tucker officially signed a two-year contract with the Turkish team Fenerbahce over the weekend, the expectation is that he’ll try to return to the NBA next summer if his first year in Europe goes well, per Stein. That suggests Horton-Tucker’s deal includes an opt-out clause after year one.
- After reporting on Saturday that Mavericks star Anthony Davis had taken part in some five-on-five scrimmages for the first time since undergoing eye surgery in July, Stein cautions that Dallas will likely take a cautious approach with the big man once camp officially gets underway, since “pickup game intensity cannot compare to training camp intensity.”
Agent: Jonathan Kuminga Willing To Accept Qualifying Offer
Appearing on the latest Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link), agent Aaron Turner said accepting the $8MM qualifying offer is a realistic option for restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga unless the Warriors‘ offers improve, relays Anthony Slater of ESPN.
“There’s a lot of upside,” Turner told the hosts. “He wants to pick where he wants to go. So the QO is real for sure.”
As Slater reported on Monday, Golden State recently engaged in another negotiating session with Kuminga and Turner, submitting its latest offer of $75.2MM over three years with a team option for the final season. That would give him two fully guaranteed seasons at a total of $48.3MM.
Earlier in the summer, the team offered a two-year, $45MM contract that contains a team option in the second season. The only offer without a team option limits his salary to $54MM over three years, an average of $18MM per season.
Kuminga has refused to accept any of those scenarios, but Turner said this week that he would be agreeable to the latest offer if the Warriors replace the team option with a player option. The team has refused to put a player option on the table, which is why Kuminga finds the QO so appealing. Although he would be playing for far below his market value for one season, Kuminga would become unrestricted next summer and would have the power to choose his next team.
“If (the Warriors) want to win now, if you want a guy that’s happy and treated fairly who is a big part of this team, we believe, moving forward, you give him the player option,” Turner said on the podcast. “You do lose a little of that trade value (giving that up). But if it’s about the here and now, you give him that. You don’t get a perfect deal, but you get a pretty good deal and he gets to feel respected about what he gets and we all move on and worry about winning, helping Steph (Curry).”
The Warriors’ offseason has been on hold while they work toward a solution with Kuminga. They reportedly have deals lined up with free agents Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II, but those can’t be finalized because using any portion of the mid-level exception would hard-cap the Warriors at the second apron. That creates the risk that another team could open enough cap room to give Kuminga an offer that Golden State wouldn’t be able to match.
“If JK wants to take (the qualifying offer), it does have upside, right?” Turner said. “We’ve talked about that. You’re not getting traded. You’re going to have unrestricted free agency (next summer). People are going to say, ‘Well, Aaron, there’s not going to be 10 or 12 teams (with cap space).’ Fine, there’ll be six teams with cap space for the clear-cut under-35 top wing on the market. So there’s a lot of upside.”
The Suns and Kings both expressed interest in Kuminga this summer before Golden State shut down sign-and-trade talks. Sacramento was reportedly offering a contract worth $63-66MM over three years, while Phoenix was willing to pay him between $80-88MM over four seasons. However, neither team made a trade offer that enticed the Warriors.
“He’s gotten a chance to hear from other teams,” Turner said. “You know, Sacramento, he’s spent some time with them, got to meet (general manager) Scott Perry, (head coach) Doug Christie, the Suns and what they’ve offered him. There’s been other teams, too, maybe planting seeds for (2026 or 2027). But they’re saying, ‘Hey, we want you to be you. We don’t want you to change anything. We want to put the ball in your hands. We want to give you a huge opportunity to play.'”
Turner added that Kuminga isn’t opposed to staying with the Warriors, but that would mean putting his personal ambitions aside, and Turner believes his client should be financially compensated for that decision. He called Golden State “as first-class as you get,” but pointed out that other teams would be giving Kuminga a chance to play full-time starter’s minutes, while staying put means he would be coming off the bench and battling for playing time with Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green and Horford.
“No guarantees he starts any games,” Turner said. “He may, but we don’t know. Finishing games, night to night, who knows? It depends if (coach Steve Kerr) has a combination he likes and it’s working. Maybe he sticks with it. Maybe he doesn’t. You’re going to have to not have the ball as much. You’re going to have to stay away from developing certain parts of your game, or wanting to lean into certain parts of your game, especially shooting any type of mid-range jump shots, which is something JK does work on. But in the Golden State offense and the role he’s in, that’s not going to be a big shot that he’s really going to be able to take much.”
With media day just 10 days away, there’s a growing urgency on both sides to get the matter resolved. Turner indicated that Kuminga would take the two-year offer if he’s allowed to keep an inherent no-trade clause that would come with it, but the team hasn’t budged on that point. He added that Kuminga would want to be compensated for accepting a team option — something in the neighborhood of $30MM per year.
“Two years from now, if you want to keep him, you’ll have his Bird rights (even if you give him a player option),” Turner said. “You treat him good and you show him the plan, then maybe you keep him. (The player option contract) is not perfect, but I don’t think anybody can get everything they really want.
“If you ask JK, he wants Jalen Green‘s deal. He’s not getting that. He wants Jalen Johnson‘s deal. You’re not getting that. If the Warriors, we feel like, pick the front end (of the contract), if that number needs to be lower to stay under a second apron, (it’s a) player option. Or if it’s about really controlling the back end of the deal, move the number up, shake your roster up and you can have a team option. Or, the hybrid model, let him keep his no-trade clause.”
Jimmy Butler Reached Out To Warriors On Jonathan Kuminga Negotiations
Jimmy Butler has contacted Warriors management to gauge the situation involving restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga, NBC Sports Bay Area reporter Dalton Johnson said on the latest Dubs Talk podcast (YouTube link).
Kuminga remains unsigned with the start of training camp less than two weeks away. A report earlier this week stated that the team recently increased its offer to $75.2MM over three years, but Kuminga and his representatives refused to accept because it contains a team option for the final season.
“I can confidently say that Jimmy Butler has also reached out to the team and been like, ‘What’s going on here? I just want to know the plan,’” Johnson said.
Johnson points out that the Warriors quickly resolved any outstanding issues with Butler when they acquired him from Miami in a February trade. Butler had been engaged in a prolonged standoff with the Heat because they were unwilling to agree to an extension, but Golden State announced a new two-year, $111MM contract with Butler when the trade was finalized.
“I think Jimmy, as someone who came on last year and kind of showed, ‘All right, you took care of me, all the drama’s done, all the Miami stuff, it’s just basketball for me. I’m all about basketball,” Johnson added. “When I’m on the contract for you, it’s about basketball. And now I think he’s saying, ‘Hey, show me that it’s all about basketball. We have two weeks until training camp. So either just pay (Kuminga) or move him. Like, there needs to be a decision.’”
Kuminga’s agent, Aaron Turner, told ESPN’s Anthony Slater that his client would be willing to take the Warriors’ latest offer if the team option is replaced by a player option. If a new deal can’t be worked out, Kuminga can still choose to accept the one-year, $8MM qualifying offer that was tendered in late June. It contains a no-trade clause and would make him an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Latest On Jonathan Kuminga
After writing on Monday in a story co-reported with Shams Charania that the Warriors have made Jonathan Kuminga a three-year offer worth approximately $75MM with a third-year team option, ESPN’s Anthony Slater provided an update on those negotiations on Tuesday during an NBA Today appearance (Twitter video link).
“I actually talked to Aaron Turner, Jonathan Kuminga’s agent, this morning, and the messaging they’re adopting this week is ‘turn the TO to a PO and it’s done,'” Slater said. “… (The team option) on that three-year deal, if that’s suddenly a player option, not only will Jonathan Kuminga sign it, they’re saying, but he will be completely bought in on the mission that they’re asking of him, which is – using Turner’s messaging – to get Steph Curry and Draymond Green a fifth ring (and) Jimmy Butler his first ring.”
Reporting throughout the summer has indicated that Kuminga is seeking a contract that positions him to be more of a building block than simply a trade chip.
While the 22-year-old would prefer to be in a situation where his role is both more prominent and more defined, Slater’s report suggests he has expressed a willingness to re-sign with Golden State – where his playing time and responsibilities have been inconsistent – if he’s assured of a multiyear guarantee and the opportunity to reach the open market in two years.
“(Kuminga’s camp would view a third-year player option as) a show of goodwill…for what they’re calling ‘years of confusion’ over his role and a willingness to suppress some of his personal ambitions,” Slater said. “… (He would) accept what’s probably going to be a bench role, what’s probably going to be fluctuating minutes, and accepting what will very likely be a tradable contract.”
According to ESPN’s report on Monday, the Warriors’ only offer to Kuminga that hasn’t included a team option on the final year was a three-year proposal that averaged about $18MM annually. There would be little reason for the RFA forward to accept that offer over the version of the three-year deal that includes a team option and is worth closer to $25MM per year.
Signing the one-year, $8MM qualifying offer that comes with a no-trade clause and a path to 2026 unrestricted free agency remains an option for Kuminga until October 1 if he’s not satisfied with any of the team’s other offers.
Here’s more on Kuminga:
- Golden State’s goal of maximizing cap flexibility for the summer of 2027 has been a factor in negotiations with Kuminga and in sign-and-trade talks, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. Given their desire to keep their options open for that offseason, the Warriors have been reluctant to give Kuminga a player option for 2027/28; it’s also one reason why the club isn’t eager to acquire Malik Monk, the centerpiece of the Kings‘ sign-and-trade offer for Kuminga, who has a player option worth $21.6MM for ’27/28.
- The Kings are still under the impression that Kuminga wants to play for them, but the Warriors shut down sign-and-trade talks with Sacramento and the Suns earlier in the summer, says Amick. While it’s possible Golden State revisits those discussions at the 11th hour, league and team sources say a deal with either Pacific rival remains highly unlikely, Amick adds.
- Keith Smith of Spotrac takes a closer look at the Kuminga standoff, exploring various potential outcomes and explaining the various factors each involved party is taking into account.
Stein’s Latest: Banton, Love, Warriors, NBA Europe, Bonga
Free agent guard Dalano Banton has received interest from teams overseas but continues to seek an NBA opportunity after spending the past season-and-a-half in Portland, Marc Stein writes for The Stein Line (Substack link).
According to Stein, Banton has recently auditioned for multiple NBA teams, including the Warriors and Pacers, though Indiana decided to pass on him.
Banton, who was traded from the Celtics to the Trail Blazers at the 2024 deadline, has since appeared in 97 games for Portland, averaging 10.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 20.6 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .399/.319/.751. He has been an unrestricted free agent since his contract expired on June 30.
Here’s more from Stein:
- The Jazz and Kevin Love have yet to engage in serious discussions about a buyout, per Stein. While it’s “widely known” that Love would like to play for a team closer to contention, it doesn’t sound as if he has a post-buyout spot lined up yet, Stein explains, so there has been no urgency to get out of his contract with Utah.
- Stein reiterates that the expectation around the NBA is that veteran free agents Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, and Gary Payton II will sign with the Warriors once Jonathan Kuminga‘s situation is resolved. According to Stein, the latest round of negotiations between the Warriors and Kuminga has “sparked some fresh optimism” that both he and those other vets will be signed prior to the team’s media day on September 29.
- After FIBA Europe president Jorge Garbajosa predicted that the NBA’s new European league could tip off in 2027, Stein says his own reporting suggests Garbajosa’s timetable may not be exact but also isn’t far off.
- Although Isaac Bonga‘s NBA exit clause for 2025 expired, he drew interest from a few teams earlier in the summer, according to Stein, who says Bonga committed to spending the coming season with Partizan Belgrade after not getting a concrete offer from any of those clubs. Stein anticipates Bonga will receive more serious NBA interest next offseason.
Warriors Made New Offer To Jonathan Kuminga, But Stalemate Continues
The Warriors made a new contract offer to restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga last week, hoping to end the standoff that has prevented them from completing other offseason moves, sources tell Anthony Slater and Shams Charania of ESPN.
Golden State’s latest proposal is a three-year, $75.2MM deal with a team option in the third season, according to the authors’ sources. It includes $48.3MM in guaranteed money over the first two years, which Slater and Charania point out is nearly equal to the annual salary that restricted free agent Josh Giddey received last week in his new contract with Chicago. They add that the major difference is that Giddey received four guaranteed years with no options on either side, while Kuminga would most likely be a trade asset under his next contract rather than part of the team’s long-term future.
The offer is an increase from the two-year, $45MM contract that was presented to Kuminga and his representatives earlier this summer. That deal also included a team option on the final season and a demand that Kuminga waive his inherent no-trade clause.
The authors describe the Warriors’ insistence on those provisions, even in the new proposal, as a “major part” of the prolonged standoff. Their sources say Golden State’s only offer without a team option was for $54MM over three years, which brings the annual salary down to $18MM.
Kuminga has been requesting a player option to give him more control over his future, sources tell Slater and Charania. He and agent Aaron Turner have been willing to accept a yearly salary in the $20MM range as a tradeoff, but they believe agreeing to a team option should bring Kuminga’s salary up to about $30MM per year. The Warriors consider a player option to be a “nonstarter,” according to the authors.
The latest proposal from Kuminga and his agent is described as a “souped-up version” of Golden State’s qualifying offer, which is also still on the table. Kuminga would receive more money than the $8MM QO that was tendered in late June, but it would be a one-year deal that makes him an unrestricted free agent next summer and allows the Warriors to shop him as an expiring contract heading into the trade deadline. It also creates the possibility that Kuminga could spend another full season with the team and start negotiations fresh next offseason.
General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. turned down that idea, the authors state, as owner Joe Lacob is reportedly unwilling to accept any deal that puts the Warriors at risk of losing Kuminga next summer while getting nothing in return.
Lacob has been a strong believer in Kuminga ever since he advocated drafting him ahead of Franz Wagner in 2021, according to the authors. Sources tell them that Lacob refused to part with Kuminga in a proposed trade with Chicago for Alex Caruso two years ago, and he remained a vocal supporter even when the forward was removed from Steve Kerr‘s rotation last season. But sources tell the authors that Lacob has never intervened with Kerr on Kuminga’s behalf and has allowed the coach to make his own decisions about who gets on the court.
Kerr has indicated that Kuminga would see ample playing time this season if he opts to re-sign, according to Slater and Charania’s sources. However, Kuminga’s camp has pointed to comments that Kerr made during the playoffs — stating that Kuminga isn’t a natural fit alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler — and they suggest that staying with Golden State might not be the best move for Kuminga’s career.
Before the Warriors shut down the idea of a sign-and-trade, they received offers from the Suns (who intended to pay Kuminga about $80-88MM over four years) and Kings (three years at $63-66MM), who were both willing to give him a player option and make him their starting power forward.
However, the Warriors weren’t satisfied with the return in the proposed deals, which reportedly would have brought Royce O’Neale and second-round draft compensation from Phoenix or Malik Monk and a protected first-rounder from Sacramento.
With training camp starting in two weeks, the authors state that Kuminga’s best hope is for Lacob to intervene, either to give him the financial compensation that he wants or ease his pathway to another team. The Warriors have several moves on hold that can’t be completed until the Kuminga situation is resolved, so a final decision will have to be made soon.
Fischer’s Latest: Kuminga, Bulls, Knicks, Bryant, Sixers, More
The Bulls are unlikely to emerge as a viable sign-and-trade suitor for Warriors restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga after agreeing to re-sign their own RFA (Josh Giddey), according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link). However, Fischer suggests that Chicago is worth keeping an eye on as a future landing spot for Kuminga, given that the Bulls project to have significant cap room beginning in 2026.
The fact that the Bulls and many other teams around the NBA should have cap space available next summer is one reason why Kuminga is “strongly considering” accepting his $8MM qualifying offer, which would allow him to hold an implicit no-trade clause for the coming season and reach unrestricted free agency in 2026, Fischer writes. While Kuminga’s preference would be to negotiate a longer-term deal, the Warriors haven’t yet seemed inclined to budge off their two-year, $45MM offer that includes a second-year team option.
Still, there’s a sense that a resolution on Kuminga might not be far off. Anthony Slater of ESPN said during an NBA Today appearance (YouTube link) that there have been “renewed efforts” this week to bridge the gap between the two sides, while Fischer says people connected to the negotiations believe there could be movement within the next week.
Here’s more from Fischer:
- The Knicks weighed the possibility of signing free agent big man Thomas Bryant but ultimately decided to prioritize depth in the backcourt and on the wing, league sources tell Fischer. The team reached non-guaranteed deals this week with Malcolm Brogdon, Landry Shamet, and Garrison Mathews, who will each compete for a roster spot.
- Following up on his report about Sixers veterans Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre Jr. being on the trade block, Fischer clarifies that the front office doesn’t appear to be operating with any sort of “clear-cut directive” to move either player. Trading Drummond and/or Oubre without taking back any salary would help create a more favorable cap/tax situation as Philadelphia looks to re-sign restricted free agent Quentin Grimes.
- The Kings‘ decision to waive Terence Davis, who had a non-guaranteed contract, likely signals that they don’t expect to need his outgoing salary for matching purposes in a trade before the season, Fischer observes. “The only reason for Sacramento to have kept Davis this long was to have potentially used him in a trade,” one league source told The Stein Line.
- Celtics big man Luka Garza had hoped to suit up for Bosnia and Herzegovina at this year’s EuroBasket tournament but has yet to be cleared by FIBA, according to Fischer, who explains that Garza’s appeal will be heard after EuroBasket ends. If he gets clearance, Garza could represent Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 2027 World Cup.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Kuminga, DJJ, Suns, Micic
After stating in mid-July that he was “pretty confident” the Lakers weren’t interested in Heat forward Andrew Wiggins, Dan Woike of The Athletic confirms reporting from Marc Stein, writing that the Lakers appear more inclined to pursue an upgrade on the wing – including a player like Wiggins – in the wake of Luka Doncic‘s long-term commitment to the team. Doncic signed a three-year, maximum-salary extension with Los Angeles last month.
Although the Lakers seem more open to taking on contracts that run beyond the 2025/26 season in the right deal, they also may want to see how new additions like Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart, and Jake LaRavia look this fall before they cash in any of their limited trade assets, Woike cautions.
The Lakers can currently only trade one future first-round pick, either their 2031 or 2032 selection.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Checking in on where things stand between Jonathan Kuminga and the Warriors, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area says the restricted free agent forward continues to show little interest in Golden State’s two-year, $45MM offer that includes a second-year team option and requires him to waive his right to veto a trade. In Poole’s view, Kuminga signing his $7.98MM qualifying offer remains the most likely outcome.
- An arbitrator has ruled that Derrick Jones Jr.‘s former agent, Aaron Turner, is entitled to his full 4% commission ($1.2MM) on the three-year, $30MM contract the veteran forward signed with the Clippers in 2024, per NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link). Jones made an agent change right around the time he entered free agency last summer.
- Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays several of the most notable comments that former Suns point guard Vasilije Micic made during a recent appearance on the X&O’s Chat (YouTube link), including Micic’s impressions of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, and his thoughts on why Phoenix fell well short of its expectations. “Why didn’t they succeed?” the Serbian guard said in his native language. “It was a bit of everything. Issues with the coach, issues with working together, which I don’t even know what it was.”
Kuminga, Warriors Remain Far Apart In Negotiations
The Warriors and restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga remain far apart in contract negotiations, according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson. Signing his $7.9MM qualifying offer and becoming an unrestricted free agent next season “remains the most attractive offer to Kuminga,” Johnson reports.
The Warriors-Kuminga saga has dragged on throughout the offseason, as it has for a few other prominent restricted free agents, with no resolution in sight despite the opening of training camps later this month.
Golden State has offered Kuminga a two-year deal worth approximately $45MM, insisting on a team option for the second year. Kuminga’s representatives are holding firm on their desire for a player option.
The impasse might be resolved if the Warriors drop their team option demand or perhaps if they front-load the contract. Golden State’s insistence that Kuminga give up his right to veto a trade on a one-plus-one deal may also be a sticking point.
If Kuminga winds up signing the QO, there is inherent risk for both sides. The 22-year-old forward’s value could drop if he isn’t part of Steve Kerr‘s regular rotation or if he suffers a major injury. However, Golden State could suffer more short-term risk. The QO would come with a no-trade clause for 2025/26 and Kuminga’s modest cap hit would make it difficult for Golden State to move him even if he’s willing to approve a deal.
A recent report indicated that the Warriors have been “discouraging” sign-and-trade scenarios for Kuminga after previous proposals from the Kings and Suns failed to meet the team’s asking price.
The Warriors need to act this month to fill out their roster. As our roster counts display, they have nine players on standard contracts, only seven of which are fully guaranteed. They have just one two-way player signed and both of their draft picks remain unsigned. Golden State has essentially frozen roster moves until the Kuminga issue is resolved.