The Golden State Warriors need to find a resolution to their sticky situation with restricted free agent.
They should stop searching for it in the NBA trade market. For now, at least.
Look, maybe this saga—which has both paused Kuminga’s payday and stopped the Warriors from filling their roster in free agency—has caused irreparable damage to what has long felt like a fractured relationship. That’s obviously not ideal, but it’s also not a reason for Golden State to accept a bad trade just to get this over with.
And it seems like the Warriors are weighing whether to do exactly that.
Per The Athletic’s Sam Amick, sign-and-trade talks between Golden State and the Sacramento Kings “were renewed earlier this week.” While Amick noted that “no significant progress was made in the talks,” he also opined that “it’s quite notable” the Kings are still considering this.
Sacramento has no obvious incentive to abandon the pursuit, though. The Kings are in a tough spot where they aren’t guaranteed a playoff (or play-in) spot in the fully loaded Western Conference but also don’t have many young, long-term building blocks. They could envision plenty of value potential in Kuminga, a 22-year-old who was drafted seventh overall in 2021 and has since shown off explosive athleticism and a knack for getting buckets.
Moreover, he’s done all of this while being shuffled all around—and sometimes out of—the Warriors’ rotation. Right or wrong, coach Steve Kerr has decided Kuminga isn’t a great system fit, particularly since they added Jimmy Butler at the last trade deadline. It’s possible Kuminga is just one scenery change away from a major breakthrough.
One can understand, then, why the Kings might want to get something done. It’s the Warriors, though, who can’t afford for things to end this way.
Sacramento, per Amick, has “offered veteran guard Malik Monk and a lottery-protected, 2030 first-round pick,” which probably explains why these renewed trade talks didn’t get any farther than the previous round of discussions. That’s just not an interesting (let alone valuable) package for the Warriors.
For one, that’s a pretty heavy protection for a pick that wouldn’t convey for another five years at the absolute earliest. Secondly, Golden State has maintained financial flexibility for 2027 (when Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green can all enter free agency), and Monk’s contract, which has a $21.6 million player option for 2027-28, would eat into that.
Finally, Monk might be just as poor of a system fit as Kuminga. Monk is at least a better shooter (albeit a very streaky one), but he’s prone to the same bouts of tunnel vision and may not make the quick-read passes and off-ball movements needed to thrive as a support piece in this offense.
In other words, Golden State would be saddled with a contract and a player it probably doesn’t want, and its only compensation would be a heavily-protected first-round pick that might convey in a half-decade. That’s just bad business, regardless how the Warriors really feel about Kuminga.
If that’s the only external option left, it’s time for them to think longer and harder about an internal fix to this issue. Namely, they need to finally figure out a multi-year contract that makes sense for them and him, because, in the business of basketball terms, the only profit potential here is keeping Kuminga around in hopes that more favorable options eventually emerge.
It’s probably just kicking the trade-Kuminga can down the road, and that’s fine. Waiting should eventually open up more suitors, more options and, hopefully, more favorable returns for the Warriors. Both young teams and those with current scoring deficiencies could conceivably talk themselves into acquiring the bouncy swingman.
And who knows, maybe there’s still a way for Golden State to mend fences and for Kuminga to factor into the long-term plans there yet. It certainly isn’t the likeliest scenario, but if he’s making more money and seeing more consistent minutes, maybe it becomes easier for him to buy into the support role Kerr wants him to play.
The point is, the Dubs can’t see these sign-and-trade talks with the Kings as their only road out of this. As much as they’d love to see the end of this drawn-out saga, the only way it works for them is if they find a solution that benefits them. These conversations with Sacramento are never going to do that.
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