It appears there is just one hurdle remaining in the Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga contract saga.
Golden State has negotiated with its prized restricted free agent for months, and with Kuminga still unsigned midway through September, the sides could strike a deal if one change is made to the Warriors’ latest offer.
ESPN’s Anthony Slater joined “NBA Today” on Tuesday, where he shared what Kuminga’s agent, Aaron Turner, told him about the Warriors’ latest contract offer, which Slater and Shams Charania reported Monday is for three years and $75.2 million.
“I actually talked to Aaron Turner, Jonathan Kuminga’s agent, this morning, and the messaging they’re adopting this week is ‘Turn the [team option] to a [player option’ and it’s done,” Slater said. “And that messaging is generally saying, if it’s a team option on [that 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 they’re asking of him.
“Which is, using Turner’s messaging, that is to get Steph Curry and Draymond Green a fifth ring, [and] Jimmy Butler his first ring.”
NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson confirmed Kuminga and Turner’s willingness to take the Warriors’ offer if the team option is changed to a player option.
The Warriors, as ESPN reported Monday, have not budged in their desire to maintain a team option in the deal, but also have offered Kuminga a three-year, $54 million fully guaranteed non-team-option contract as well.
However, if Golden State were to give Kuminga the player option he desires in their three-year, $75.2 million offer, it could go a long way toward strengthening the relationship between the young forward and the organization for the 2025-26 NBA season and beyond.
“That’s an understanding of him that it’s a show of goodwill if they set it to a player option, for what they’re calling ‘years of confusion’ over his role and a willingness to suppress some of his personal ambitions, which are obviously very much a part of the holdup here, accept what probably is going to be a bench role, what’s probably going to be fluctuating minutes and accepting what will very likely be a tradable contract,” Slater added.
It’s unclear if the Warriors will budge, but if they do, a deal could be imminent.
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