Browsing: reportedly

The Miami Dolphins wanted out of the Jalen Ramsey business when they traded the veteran safety to the Pittsburgh Steelers,…

There were times throughout the offseason when it seemed like LeBron James could be on his way out of Los…

The Miami Heat aren’t looking to trade forward Andrew Wiggins despite interest from the Los Angeles Lakers, according to Brett…

Arturo Holmes/Getty Images AEW star Maxwell Jacob Friedman continues to stretch…

Atlanta Falcons backup quarterback Kirk Cousins isn’t unanimously viewed as an impactful contributor under center within the league, according to…

After Deatrich Wise Jr. suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2, the Washington Commanders have added veteran pass-rusher Preston Smith…

A number of NFL teams are going to have to rely on their backup quarterbacks in Week 3, but don’t expect the Atlanta Falcons to entertain trade offers for their own backup, Kirk Cousins, at the moment.

“So I reached out to some people, and I don’t get the sense that Atlanta’s moving Cousins right now,” The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported during Monday’s Scoop City podcast (11:47 mark).

Injuries are certainly piling up at the quarterback position around the NFL:

Whether Cousins would even be a meaningful upgrade over any of those players at this stage in his career is another question entirely. The 37-year-old threw for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in 14 games last season, taking 28 sacks and completing 66.9 percent of his passes.

In a five-game stretch between Nov. 10 and Dec. 16, Cousins was absolutely dreadful, throwing just one touchdown pass to nine interceptions. The Falcons were 1-4 in those contests and went from leading the NFC South at 6-3 to a .500 record and trailing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Cousins was benched for rookie Michael Penix Jr. after that five-game stretch and the Falcons ultimately missed the playoffs, closing the season with a pair of overtime losses.

Atlanta would have eaten $65 million in dead money had it released Cousins this offseason, either counting entirely against its books in 2025 or as $40 million in 2025 and $25 million in 2026 had he released with a post-June 1 designation.

Trading him would have left them on the hook for $37.5 million in remaining proration (and it’s likely they would have needed to eat some salary as well in a deal). Instead, the Falcons decided to keep him on the books as Penix’s backup, and for now it appears they plan to maintain that current setup.

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Kobe Bufkin is getting a fresh start.

The Atlanta Hawks struck a deal to send Bufkin to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday afternoon, according to ESPNâ€s Shams Charania. In exchange, the Hawks will receive cash considerations from the Nets.

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The Hawks selected Bufkin with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft out of Michigan, though heâ€s struggled so far in the league. Bufkin has appeared in just 27 games over the last two seasons, and he underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in December after playing in just 10 games.

Bufkin spent some time with the Hawks†G League affiliate during his rookie campaign. He averaged 23.6 points and 5.9 assists per game with the College Park Skyhawks during the 2023-24 season. Heâ€s averaged 5 points, 2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 27 NBA games throughout his career. Bufkin has two years left on his initial four-year, $19.8 million rookie deal.

While his NBA career has yet to take off, Bufkin will get a bit of a restart with the Nets. The franchise went just 26-56 last season, and then used all five of its first-round draft picks earlier this summer to help jumpstart a rebuild under second-year head coach Jordi Fernández. Bufkin, now healthy, should play a significant part in that push.

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The Hawks went just 40-42 last season and missed the playoffs for a second straight year. They traded back with the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA draft to acquire former Georgia star Asa Newell. Though the return isn’t great for a former first-round draft pick, the Hawks have now cleared up a roster spot. That’ll give them some added flexibility as they head into the season this fall.

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Golden State Warriors team governor Joe Lacob has long been an advocate of young forward Jonathan Kuminga behind the scenes, according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater and Shams Charania.

Slater and Charania reported Lacob “was a driving force” behind the selection of Kuminga with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft. Others within the organization lobbied for Franz Wagner, who went eighth overall to the Orlando Magic and has blossomed into a dynamic scorer.

Lacob was similarly staunch in his desire to keep Kuminga out of trade discussions for Alex Caruso when the experienced guard was on the Chicago Bulls.

Caruso was linked with Golden State around the 2024 trade deadline, but the Bulls’ insistence on including Kuminga in deal was reportedly a dealbreaker.

The ongoing standoff between the Warriors and the 22-year-old seems to be evidence that Lacob, regardless of his personal preferences, is willing to let the front office do its job.

Golden State continues to drive a hard bargain with Kuminga’s representatives. General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. has increased his best offer to $75.2 million over three years, per Slater and Charania. The third year is a team option, though, so only $48.3 million is fully guaranteed.

There used to be a time when Lacob and the Warriors’ ownership group was willing to spend whatever it took to win a title. For the 2023-24 season, the franchise had an estimated luxury tax bill of almost $176.9 million.

Lacob eventually had to change his tune because he understood the consequences of staying in the second apron of the tax. Klay Thompson, a franchise legend, left as a free agent last summer, and now the Warriors are playing serious hardball with a player who could help chart a course in a post-Stephen Curry future.

Maybe there was a time when Lacob considered Kuminga to be an untouchable cornerstone. That no longer seems to be the case.

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Deadlines have a tendency to spark activity, and with the start of NBA training camps now just two weeks away — and with the October 1 deadline for restricted free agents to accept their teams†qualifying offers just one week beyond that — weâ€re starting to get rumblings of some movement in the long-stagnant stalemate between the Golden State Warriors and forward Jonathan Kuminga.

Over a quiet summer, both team and player remained dug into their respective positions. Kuminga has sought either a lucrative long-term extension in Golden State that signals a pathway to a starting job and a starring role, or a sign-and-trade to an interested suitor willing to provide him with such an extension and path. According to multiple reports, both the Suns and Kings had designs on giving Kuminga a multi-year deal to slot into their starting lineups; Golden State general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., however, reportedly wasnâ€t interested in the trade proposals that Phoenix and Sacramento had pitched the Warriors for Kumingaâ€s services.

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The Warriors, in turn, have wanted to bring Kuminga back on a shorter, less lucrative pact: a reported two-year, $45 million standing offer with a team option on the second year that would require Kuminga to waive the de facto no-trade clause heâ€d receive as a player signing for one guaranteed season with a team that holds his Bird rights. That structure would allow Warriors brass to trade the 22-year-old forward at whatever time they deem most convenient and to the destination of their choosing — even if itâ€s not one that Kuminga would prefer to spend the next phase of his career.

A new week brings renewed hope, though. Jake Fischer reported last week that Kuminga was “strongly considering … accepting the $7.9 million qualifying offer†that would allow him to hit unrestricted free agency next summer — taking the same tack that fellow RFA Cam Thomas took in Brooklyn and introducing the threat of the Warriors losing him without receiving any players or draft compensation in return — and that “we could finally see some movement on the Kuminga front next week.†Sure enough: Anthony Slater and Shams Charania of ESPN reported Monday that Dunleavy and Co. have upped their offer to Kuminga — albeit in a context that still allows Golden State to retain as much control as possible over when and where to move the No. 7 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft:

Late last week, Dunleavy offered Kuminga a three-year, $75.2 million deal with a team option in the third season, sources told ESPN. That’s $48.3 million guaranteed in the first two seasons and basically the same per-year salary as fellow restricted free agent Josh Giddey, who re-signed with the Chicago Bulls for four years and $100 million. The difference: Half the length and a team-controlled third season and a subliminal understanding that the contract is more trade asset than commitment to a partnership.

Dunleavy and the Warriors are requesting the same structure as their previous proposal on the two-year, $45 million framework — a team option on the second season and a waiving of the inherent no-trade clause, sources said.

Kuminga, as you might expect, remains reluctant to assent to any resolution that grants Golden State that kind of control, given his well-publicized frustrations over what he sees as years of inconsistent opportunities and stunted growth under head coach Steve Kerr. Slater and Charania report that Kuminga and his agent, Aaron Turner, have responded to the Dubs†latest pitch with one of their own, but that Dunleavy and owner Joe Lacob still havenâ€t taken their bats off their shoulders:

One of the latest counters, sources said, came in the past week: One year on a negotiable number, presented as a souped-up version of the qualifying offer, getting Kuminga a financial bump (up from $8 million) and unrestricted free agency next summer while wiping away the inherent no-trade clause and allowing the Warriors to use him as an expiring contract at the deadline. It would serve as a bridge deal that gives both sides the ability to examine another year together, but also a much more trade-friendly salary number as opposed to the qualifying offer, which has an Oct. 1 deadline. It is similar to a concept the Brooklyn Nets proposed to Cam Thomas.

Dunleavy declined the concept, sources said, and it is Lacob who is apparently against the balloon one-year offer, leaving the Warriors too vulnerable to losing Kuminga next summer for nothing.

Kuminga has proven capable of putting up numbers, averaging 15.8 points on 49.9% shooting and 4.7 rebounds in 25.6 minutes per game over the last two seasons. That production has increased when heâ€s gotten the opportunity to start: 17.1 points on 51.4% shooting to go with 5.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 combined steals-and-blocks in 28.8 minutes per game over 56 starts.

Only a handful of players Kumingaâ€s age have produced like that over the past couple of seasons: Alperen Åžengün, Jalen Williams, Evan Mobley, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Johnson. All five of those guys have already secured monster bags; all five, though, have also shown themselves to be high-level defensive players, high-level playmakers, or both. Kuminga, on the other hand, owns a 1.3-to-1 career assist-to-turnover ratio and hasnâ€t developed into the kind of on-ball stopper that youâ€d hope for from a 6-foot-8, 210-pound über-athlete with a 6-foot-11 wingspan.

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Thatâ€s a problem in Golden State, where the ecosystem that Kerr has built around Stephen Curry requires everybody else to move the ball and their bodies, knock down 3s off the catch, defend like demons, and generally fit into a defined role. The need to get in where you fit in became even more acute once the Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler: a high-efficiency, low-turnover defensive ace who plays Kumingaâ€s position. Warriors lineups featuring all three of Butler, Kuminga and Draymond Green got outscored by 36 points in 105 minutes last season, according to PBP Stats, scoring at a rate that wouldâ€ve ranked dead last in the NBA; lineups featuring Butler and Green without Kuminga, however, were +180 in 940 minutes, and scored at a top-five-caliber clip.

Time and again down the stretch last season, Kerr limited or eliminated Kumingaâ€s minutes, leaning into what worked best for Golden State in pursuit of playoff positioning and postseason success. Kerr only dusted Kuminga off when forced to after Curry injured his hamstring in Game 1 of the Warriors†second-round series against the Rockets. Over the next four games, Kuminga averaged 31 minutes a night, averaging 24.3 points per game on 55/39/72 shooting splits; he also had five assists against eight turnovers over those four games; the Warriors lost his minutes by 28 points, lost all four games, and lost the series.

Itâ€s the dilemma in a nutshell. The Warriors†only chance of playing meaningful basketball come springtime lies in doing everything possible to optimize the roster around Curry. Kerr clearly feels that, for all Kumingaâ€s athleticism and gifts as a scorer, his specific shortcomings as a connective playmaker and defender make him an awkward fit next to Steph. That athleticism and those gifts are clear, though, and clearly have value; with Curry, Butler and Green all on the wrong side of 35, Dunleavy and Co. know that Kuminga, and whatever contract he winds up signing, likely represents the Warriors†best trade chip to play in search of new sources of talent.

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Kuminga and his reps know that, too, and want the deal to reflect that, in both length and dollars. But committing to a deal that pays Kuminga more money up front (potentially foiling the Warriors†plans of filling out the roster with reportedly waiting vets like Al Horford, Deâ€Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II and Seth Curry) and that stretches beyond the summer of 2027 (when Curry, Butler and Green are all slated to be off the books, giving the Warriors all the financial flexibility in the world if they want it) would complicate matters significantly for Golden State, now and in the future.

The staring contest, then, continues, for both the Warriors — who have effectively sat out the NBAâ€s offseason, standing as the only team in the league to make no signings, still featuring six open roster spots on the verge of camp, and seeing options like once-rumored target Malcolm Brogdon come off the board — and Kuminga, who enters his fifth pro season still looking to definitively carve out his niche. With camp a mere fortnight away and the Oct. 1 qualifying offer deadline just three weeks out, itâ€ll be awfully interesting to see who blinks first.

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