Should the Phoenix Suns consider adding a player like Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga?

Should the Phoenix Suns consider adding a player like Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga?

Back to Suns and a name that continues to be linked, I would say, to the Phoenix Suns. Not like they’re like close to getting a deal done for him, but a name that keeps popping up. Kellen is Jonathan Kaminga. And that’s a guy that the Suns have been interested in for a while, and it makes a lot of sense on some levels. Let’s just start here. What is in your mind, I I’ll play this cut from Gambo, too, but I want to get your thoughts on it first. just the the realistic chances they would even be able to go out and get Kaminga because it’s not like they are overflowing with trade assets right now. I I don’t know, Luke, honestly, because I don’t understand what his trade value is. It’s a tough one to figure out because when the reporting came out from Jake Fischer and like his um the leaguewide gossip essentially was that like the Suns wouldn’t have the draft pick capital and I was like Jonathan Kaminga is going for a lot of draft pick capital. Like I I like the potential of Jonathan Kaminga and what’s going to come up in this conversation for me a lot is like I like the theory of getting someone like Jonathan Kaminga. I just don’t think that it is like the best fit here. It is kind of a similarish situation to Jaylen Green a little bit where you’re the second team for a guy. You’re the one paying him to figure out if he can untap his upside a bit. He’s a score first player and that is why it has always been difficult for him to work it out in Golden State. Look, you can have your opinions about the Warriors and their dynasty or whatever. Steve Kerr appears to know what he is doing. Seems like he has a decent grasp on it. Seems like he is one of the best head coaches that we’ve seen in the NBA in quite a long time. For him to continuously look at this guy and not be interested in playing him, you can look at it like maybe there’s like some personal stuff there or whatever. Or maybe he’s just looking out for the basketball thing, which I would assume based on like with all due respect guys like Ge Santos and others playing over Jonathan Kaminga with how immensely talented he is. You assume that there is a lack of inclination from him to accept like the type of role that he would have to play on a team like the Warriors or let’s be honest a team like the Suns. Here’s what Jonathan Kaminga is. He’s 6’8. He’s super explosive. He’s strong. He’s fast. You know who needs those guys? The Suns. They need guys like that. You know who they need? Guys who get to the rim and shoot 70% at the rim. That’s Jonathan Kaminga. Now, there’s just the fit issue I have where again like you’re asking Dem Booker to be Steve Nash. The best way to help Jaylen Green and Jonathan Kaminga is only 22 years old was taking seventh overall in 2021. The best way to develop those guys, get him the ball. So, what so is Dean Booker going to average like 11 assists a game? Like what what are we doing with Book Exactly? I would like Book to still be able to shoot. That is that is your best player. So, I would love for you to develop Youngtown, but at the same time have Book in a position to play his best basketball, and that would just not be doing so for him. Also, this is the type of move where I would assume Green and Brooks are still starting alongside Booker. So, now Ryan Dunn’s going to the bench. I want Ryan Dunn playing 30 minutes a game next year. Yeah. So, there’s just a couple of different like reasons where I don’t think that this is the best fit for them. But at the same time, if you can get him for like a relatively low price and you can figure out a multi-team deal or something like that where you just give up Grayson Allen and Nick Richards or you just give up Grayson Allen and and Royce O’Neal and clear up that log jam while bringing in someone like him on a affordable decent contract. Like do not do this to pay him $30 million a year because he’s a restricted free agent right now. It would be some type of signed trade. Don’t do this to pay him $25 million a year. You can bring him in on a somewhat affordable deal that couldn’t come back to bite you. then yeah, but I have added a lot of qualifiers already, which means that I don’t really agree with this and think it should happen. Yeah. And so I mean the last part you said there too where if you could move off of Grace Allen andor Royce O’Neal or whatever and bring him in, then that’s almost that’s giving you two potential ways you win the trade because you’re you’re clearing out a lot of cap space. Now to your point, if you turn around and spend it all on Jonathan Kaminga, you’re paying for potential, which is dicey. I mean, that that’s a risky move. When you say it might not be the best fit though, it sounds like you’re saying specifically Kaminga, not the concept of going like the concept of going out and and taking on a player where this is their second team and they have upside. This is what you need to do. Yeah. I don’t know if they have any other options. This is Yeah, this is what you do on the margins. Look at the Indiana Pacers and them making the NBA finals. like they developed Miles Turner for a very long time, but they were the second team for Tyrese Halbert. That was a very lucky example where it was like the only thing that the Kings wanted was Damonte Sabonis apparently and they had Damont Sabonis. You knew Hallebertton was good at least. Uh Nesmith was like just like a throwin in the Malcolm Brogden deal and he turns out to just be this awesome rotation caliber starting caliber wing. Um Nemhard is a guy that you take at the beginning of the second round. There TJ McConnell is a guy who just kind of bounced around. you found him and and got him in the role in playing the best basketball of his career. Teams always find a way to nail the margins like this and the Suns have mostly struggled with it over the last two years. So, for example, if Mark Williams turns out to be a top five, top 10 center in the league, that would be an example of this kind of happening. If you were to just get Jonathan Kaminga for a relatively low price and then he turns out to be a 20 25 point per game guy who’s a very good NBA player, that is the type of move that they need to make. So, I understand the aggression in seeking that out, but it’s got to be the right move and it’s all got to fit together and you’ve already got a bunch of stuff that doesn’t fit together in the first place. There are easier moves to make, but at the same time, like gambling on talent right now with where they’re at, having the talent, having the young upside is something they didn’t have a year ago. They’ve got a lot of it now in the last couple of months. And adding another one, I would understand what they’re going for. I just wouldn’t agree with it. It’s tough too because they’re in a position where you almost have to you almost have to play that like lottery game where you’re going to you’re going to gamble on talent and hopefully some of it’s going to hit and then okay, you know, then then you have something to start to build around. But it’s it’s it’s like buying a scratch ticket, but it’s not like they can go buy 20 scratch tickets. Like if you if you set that move up and okay, here we go. And you’ve you’ve chosen this Jonathan Kaminga, then Jonathan Kaminga needs to be the right guy cuz it’s not like you can go try it again in 3 months with somebody else. Okay, well that wasn’t it. We’ll just try this and we’ll try this. They’re still pretty limited in what they’re able to do. And this at a certain point is where yeah, you are paying Bradley Beal nearly $20 million a year for the next 5 years comes into play. You you can go out and you can play the lottery a little bit, but you have to win it otherwise you can’t keep playing it. And so they do need they need a player like that that was highly talented and was highly regarded coming into the draft that just hasn’t hit on his first team. It’s just you better make sure you get the right one. Yeah, but if you got him for the price that we’re talking about where it’s just like two of your rotation caliber players who you don’t really have a role for, it is the type of situation I talk about a lot where how many other teams in the league are looking to pay Jonathan Kaminga and give him a role and can you take advantage of the lack of a market for him for a guy that is incredibly talented? Like there is like a narrow sort of thread threading the needle situation here where if you don’t have to give up too much to get him, I actually would like the move. But it all depends on the price. The good news here is we kind of know what the price uh is going to be because they only have a second round pick left to trade and that and that’s it. They don’t really have anything else in terms of first rounders that they can trade right now at least. And you look up and down their roster like this isn’t the type of move to include any of your young players in. You you shouldn’t include your young players really in any of the moves that you’re making at this point. Keep the young players unless you’re getting someone who is like seriously on the up and up. And I don’t know if Kamiga is in that position right now. Here’s Gambo on Burns and Gambo yesterday talking about the possibility of Jonathan Kaminga being a member of the Phoenix Suns. The other thing that’s interesting that’s out there is the the Kaminga thing. Now, I don’t think it’s going to happen. I I still think it’s likely not going to happen. Um but they they the Suns have always had some interest in Kaminga from back when they were going to trade Durant at the deadline to Golden State. Kaminga was going to be a big piece coming back. So, I’m not going to say no, they don’t like him. Um, you know, but it’s it’s it’s low chance. It’s a low chance that they would be able to do a deal like that. Yeah. I mean, right now everything I would say is relatively low chance. The the in the I would say the important part of what Gambo just said and what we’ve been talking about, it’s not something that’s not going to happen because the Suns aren’t interested. The Suns are interested. So, there’s there’s always a chance that it happens. It’s just it’s kind of like what you were saying. You probably need to get other teams involved. And so then you’re you’re trying to orchestrate a trade with a bunch of NBA GMs. And as an example of a situation right now with the contracts they have, it’s like, okay, is there a market for Jaylen Green? Is there a market for Grace Allen? Is there a market for Royce O’Neal? Is there a market for Dylan Brooks? Like there’s a lot of names I just I just named. Yeah, it it’s it feels like you’d like to be able to make moves now that aren’t contingent on you making additional moves. You’d like to just be able to make clear-cut moves here going forward. That’s why I think everybody was so fired up for the draft cuz you drafted Kaman Malawatch. There there’s not like a and that means we have to do this and that or whatever. Thanks for watching Wolf and Luke. Tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports.

Whispers and rumors that the Phoenix Suns have interest in Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga, Luke Lapinski and Kellan Olson debate if he’s the type of player the organization should be interested in.

Report | Suns have interest in Warriors RFA Jonathan Kuminga: https://arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-suns/jonathan-kuminga/3590461/

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