All summer long, Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga held out as he looked for a lucrative contract offer after becoming a free agent. He agreed to a two-year, $48.5 million contract just days ago, but apparently, that doesn’t mean the Kuminga saga is over yet.
The second year of Kuminga’s new deal is a team option, which gives the Warriors – or another team he could be traded to – some flexibility in the near future. In fact, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer, three other teams are interested in trading for Kuminga: the Chicago Bulls, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns.
The Kings are a team that was rumored to have interest in a sign-and-trade for Kuminga before he agreed to his new contract.
However, the Warriors didn’t want what the Kings were offering in return – in particular, they weren’t interested in taking back guard Malik Monk, who averaged a career-high 17.2 points and 5.6 assists a game last season.
If Golden State is going to have any real hope of winning the fifth NBA championship of the Stephen Curry era, Kuminga will have to play a sizable role.
He is one of the few viable young players it has, and he could still have some room for improvement, and as he turns 23 years of age on Sunday, Oct. 6, he should still have plenty of room for improvement.
The 6-foot-7 forward, who was the No. 7 pick in the 2021 draft, has plenty of athleticism and is a strong finisher at or near the rim. His defense and 3-point shooting are somewhat lacking, but those are two issues he could fix over time as long as the requisite work ethic and desire are there.
During the 2025-26 season, he averaged 15.3 points on 45.4% field-goal shooting in 24.3 minutes a game. Those numbers were down from the 16.1 points on 52.9% from the field he posted the season prior to that.
The Warriors are one of the oldest teams in the league, but they do have depth. Kuminga is their main threat off the bench, and they also boast decent reserves such as Moses Moody, De’Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II and Brandin Podziemski. Of course, Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, their three main stars, are still going strong, even as they approach their late 30s.