Suns Make Aggressive Push for Jonathan Kuminga — Blockbuster Trade Incoming?

Suns Make Aggressive Push for Jonathan Kuminga — Blockbuster Trade Incoming?

[Applause] [Music] Get [Music] out. [Music] A what bucket. Get that stuff out of here. It’s Southwest Bias. [Music] It is Southwest Bias live from Studio K brought to you by our friends at Circle K. Don’t forget to become a member of the inner circle. And news came out today. More news. Just when you thought the Phoenix Suns were packing it in and getting ready for training camp coming up in a little over 6 weeks, no, they’re not done yet. At least they’re trying to not be done. As uh rumors from Sham Shirania, a report came out this morning uh that the Suns have the most lucrative uh push for Jonathan Kaminga right now via sign and trade. And that Phoenix proposal is nearly $70 million more than the guarantee that the Warriors uh have out there in their offer. And there’s more to this as as Sham’s put in his article uh you know talking about how Kaminga prefers a long-term uh deal presented by the Kings or the Suns uh because he’s looking for a fresh start. Uh but that 70 million more is what sticks out to me here in this article and you look at it and that’s probably four years 90 million to roughly 23 million a year for a guy that I don’t know if he really is your answer at power forward. If you feel he is, you’re going to have to be very well convinced that he is that guy for you because you just got yourself flexibility where you can make these trades with multiple players and picks. You just put yourself in a position where you’re starting your rebuild. And is Jonathan Kaminga that guy? What are you willing to give up for him outside of that four years and $23 million? Now, the last year is a player option is the rumor, but what are you willing to give up on top of that? because it’s not just the cost of the money, which could be good value if he lives up to the potential, but hoping for potential is a dangerous game, especially when you’re also trying to figure out how you contend now and how you move forward in the future. He’s 6’8. I He’s listed as a small forward or a power forward. I think he’s probably in that small forward range more, but maybe you play him at power forward, but you look at it and yeah, that 23 million, do you feel that you really can invest that in a guy that you’re not 100% sure of? I mean, he fell out of the Warriors rotation. Now, I get it. the Warriors play a different system than a lot of the NBA. A and maybe he fits in system better than he does in Kurs. But if the Warriors, an organization that’s been known to make the right moves over the last 10 years, last 15 years really, are looking at it and saying, “We’re not sure when they need young talent because they’re on the older side, right? They need to compete now and look at the future if they’re unwilling. That makes me wonder. But it comes down to what is the price tag beyond the salary. And Brett Seagull on Twitter put this out there that uh unless the Suns are willing to give up young guys like Ryan Dunn or Oso Igadaro, which they aren’t to his knowledge right now, the Warriors have no interest. Oh, so you might be able to get me looking at it and considering it maybe because without that shot, you have to wonder exactly what he’ll become. Unbelievable passer, IQ, off the charts, great floater, real good rim runner, but without an actual jump shot, you’ve got to wonder what the ceiling is. And do you feel his potential is greater than Jonathan Kamingas? That’ll be the big question. But I don’t think you can give up a guy like Ryan Dunn, right? I just don’t think you can actually make that kind of move because Dunn has potential. I think Dunn could kind of become the guy that you hope Kaminga is. Maybe not as offensively prowess, but defensively he’s a stalwart. He can rebound the ball. And when you look at Kaminga’s stats for his career, uh, you know, if we can put those up on the screen, uh, we can look at his stats for his career or for last season, excuse me. 15.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 50% 51% field goal shooting, 30% from three, and 24 minutes per game. Now, he’s in more of a 33% from deep shooter for his career, but those numbers are all within the wheelhouse of of what he did uh at the peak, right, two seasons ago with the Warriors. I’m not sure that that helps you fully, but that’s the thing. I’ll admit it. I’m not going to act like some people that are like, “Oh, I know every I don’t know everything.” None of us do. And that’s why I’m kind of on the fence when it comes to Jonathan Kaminga. I look at it and I go, I see the potential. I see why you might be able to talk yourself into it. I see why you look at it and you go, Jonathan Kaminga could be that guy. He could be that guy to fill the power forward spot now and moving forward. he could grow with a Malawatch and some of these young guys uh you know to Fleming you hope to create a formidable athletic high energy team but he also couldn’t because he’s not a known commodity and there was a great article uh from NBC San Francisco that quoted two different scouts and if we could put the first one up there Damon they kind of show how I if these guys aren’t can’t get in agreement on Jonathan Kaminga, I’m not 100% sure how I can feel. This one unnamed scout says you put him in the starting lineup and give him minutes and he knew he was going to get minutes and he knew he was going to have an opportunity to play through mistakes, then I think he could be an all-star level player and a primary guy. But the scouts don’t agree. This is another anonymous scout with a different take. He says, “If Golden State can’t figure him out, which they can’t, how can the rest of us? They should know him better than anybody else.” Two scouts with varying degrees of opinion on Jonathan Kaminga. And I understand now why I am torn about it because NBA scouts are torn about Jonathan Kaminga’s potential and what it means that he can’t put it together in Golden State. Steve Kerr is one of the best coaches we’ve seen in the NBA in in years. That environment is the perfect environment for a young guy to, you know, kind of build slowly to having a good career and earn his time. And they’re willing to walk away from him. They’re not willing to go to four years and 90 million for a guy that they can even with the cap restrictions because he’s their own free agent. I I question if this is the Suns again trying to go with a microwave option to make things quicker. If it’s this guy’s a a recognizable name which fans will gravitate to to continue to build excitement. I don’t think so because this front office has shown that that’s not the game they’re trying to play this year. They’ve shown this off season a sense of patience and a willingness to try to build long-term. So, I don’t think this is just, oh, we need to we need to make something happen now. I don’t think this is Devin Booker’s clock is ticking. I think they are really looking at it as if he can be a key piece in what they’re trying to build, but is it cost prohibitive? Can you convince the Warriors to take a Nick Richards and a Grayson Allen and a second round pick? Do they get that desperate? Do you decide, okay, Oso Igadoro can be part of that package? Is that enough for the Warriors? I draw the red line at Ryan Dunn. I I don’t cross that line. And everything I I’ve read and heard is the Suns are not ready to cross that line and consider including Ryan Dunn in a package. But if I’m the Warriors, people like the Warriors don’t have leverage. The Warriors have leverage because if they don’t really want to sign him to a long-term deal, you know, they can play this out. They can say, “You know what? We’ll we’ll keep you. We’ll we’ll keep you another year. You sign that qualifying offer and then maybe we mend it or we don’t or we find a trade that you like at that point that works better for us and then you can go somewhere else.” I don’t think the Warriors are just gonna give him up to give him up. That that’s just not how good organizations work. You don’t give up a guy just because you’re like, “Well, he holds the cards right now in terms of uh being a restricted free agent.” No, the Warriors will try to do what’s best for their organization. And I’m not sure that Grayson Allen, Nick Richards, uh, and, you know, a second round pick or even Oso in that deal is enough to get them to pivot. Does that put them closer to the title that they’re chasing with Draymond and Steph? Uh, and Jimmy Butler. I don’t know. Maybe maybe Grayson helps. I don’t know that Nick Richards does a lot for him, but I’m not sure. And neither are the scouts. And neither are the fans. It’s been a 50/50 split. I’ve been called an idiot that doesn’t know ball and completely 100% right in my stance that I don’t know that the cost is worth it. And to me that speaks volumes about who Jonathan Kaminga is in the view of the NBA, its fans, teams, and sometimes the best decisions are the ones that there isn’t agreement on, right? That there is some back and forth. And if we trust the Sun scouting staff on a Kaman Malawatch and a Fleming and a Brea and you look at Oso and Ryan Dunn and you believe in what they’re trying to do with Jaylen Green and you think that they can talent evaluate, I lean towards maybe trusting it if they go that route as long as Ryan Dunn’s not involved. But if Ryan Dunn’s involved, I I start to question it. So, will Jonathan Kaminga be a son? There’s a hell of a lot of hurdles. And the Kings are one of them as well. They’re interested. But will the Warriors bend? Does Jonathan Kaminga want to be with the Suns more than he does? One of the other teams trying to get him an assign a trade. Is this some giant ploy to just try to get the Warriors to pay him more money? And will the Suns be willing to give up more in terms of young players? There’s a lot of questions. They’re they’re not knocking on the doorstep of adding Jonathan Kaminga, but it makes for yet another interesting move and an interesting topic this off season to see where the Suns are going to go, but that’s just my Southwest bias. We welcome Damon Dog behind the Mac. Damon, how are you this morning? I’m I’m living life, Espo. How are we doing? I uh I’m not bad. I had to scrap the first part of the show uh because this came up this morning, which is all right. But uh I’m I’m very I’m very torn about Jonathan Kaminga. I I just I don’t know. But where are you on Jonathan Kaminga? I think I think everybody’s torn on Jonathan Kaminga, right? I’m looking at his per 36 stats right here. 22.6 points per game, 6.8 rebounds. That’s if he was playing starter caliber minutes. Like on paper, that looks great, right? But it’s the efficiency. It’s the It’s kind of the I I think there’s been some subtle attitude things for sure. The mistakes on court. He he makes mistakes out there. Yeah. He feels like his ceiling is extremely high, right? But how much do you give up for that? Personally, I think a guy like Ryan Dunn on the contract that he will be after his rookie deal is more valuable than the contract that you would have to pay Jonathan Kaminga. um for I know he’s I don’t think he’s quite as good of a player, but I think when you’re factoring in a salary cap league like this, you have to think about contract value. And Jonathan Kaminga is not exactly good contract value. There there is nothing I hate more than per 36 because it it it’s it’s fugazi. It’s just it’s just this thing in the ether that oh well if he played 36. Yeah. And if I were 7 foot tall uh and had athletic ability, I’d be a starting center in the NBA. Like I get it that it can be a useful tool, but I just I don’t buy into guys per 36 because uh Rashawn Holmes uh you know would have been a great starting center based on per 36. There’s there’s a bunch of guys that were per 36 heroes uh that that don’t amount to a whole lot in the NBA when given starters minutes. I just there’s there’s potential, but I’ve dealt in potential so much as a Suns fan that I’m just not sure, especially this is your first major move after you clear that space, right? after you after you get yourself out of those aprons, is this what you want to do uh to make that first move to use a lot of the assets that you’re going to have at your disposal to make to make a move? I just I don’t know that that is where I want them to go. And I and I wish I could give you a definitive and sit here and go it would be ridiculous to do this or it’d be great and everything be wonderful, but guess what? things live in the gray area and you can say that like to be a talking head. You don’t have to have the this I’m going to burn it down opinion for everything. It’s okay for all of us to not know and then it comes down to do you trust the Sun’s front office to make the right decision with young talent. I lean towards yes. So that’s where I am on the other side of the break. We got another team that’s talking trades that we have to discuss what their future looks like and what they should be doing. And I have a very definitive opinion on that. It’s coming up on the other side right here on Southwest Bias. So, I got to tell you about my friends over at Mountain America Credit Union. You’ve got one day, Uno Moss, one more day to take advantage of their double points uh with their credit card. And I highly recommend it. 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Visit macu.com/double for more details. And then branded bills. I wear a branded bill every day on this show. You see the custom PHNX hat on the desk every day. If you need custom headwear or apparel or you just want some of the best looking state and college hats in the business, you can get them with branded bills. I love hats. I’ve told you I got over 70 of them at home and most of them have become branded bills because they are comfortable. They are breathable, which you go, “Why do I need a breathable hat?” Because it’s hot out there. And if you don’t, uh, you’re gonna sweat through it. You’re gonna get those sweat stains. It’s just not going to be pretty. You don’t want that. You want to have a hat that you can rely on in these summer months. And Brandon Bills takes care of that for you. Plus, they got amazing apparel. Uh, some great clothing. Uh, I love it. You’re going to love it, too. And I want to take care of you, right? Brandon Bill said, “Esbow, what can we do for your people? how can we help you help them? And I said, 15% off, right? 15% off on their first order. They said, we can do that. They said, just use that promo code BBPHNX at brandabbills.com. On your first order, you’re saving 15%. That’s branded.com. Check them out today. So, yeah, I told you before the break that we got another team in this town that’s debating what they should do in terms of trades. And yeah, I’m talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks. I think we’re all in agreement now. 30 some odd hours, 29 hours to the trade deadline. Uh, anything that’s not nailed down or named Corbin Carroll probably should be considered. Let’s be honest. Like, uh, this isn’t this isn’t a a sun situation where I’m hesitant. Corbin Carroll is where I draw the line. Everybody else, if the offer is good enough, let’s let’s make a deal. Let’s have let’s have a discussion. Why not? because you’re not going anywhere and you’re not going there fast right now. Yeno Suarez is a free agent. Merryill Kelly, Zack Allen, they’re free agents. Uh you’ve got a a a plethora of outfielders that you could look at and you go, you know, we could give this guy up, right? Jake McCarthy, I think you could give up uh if you get something back. What you need to do is is 2026 in play. I talked about this with Derek. you know, if 2026 is in play, what are you going to do to actually try to be better? But for me, this comes down to something else and something I’ve held off on because I didn’t want to think this is where they needed to get. I didn’t want to think that this was the guy that they really need to consider moving on from. Tory Lavell needs to be on the hot seat. If you sell, if you trade guys, you have to really think, can I enter this next phase of Diamondbacks baseball with Tory Lavell being the guy? Look, I look at managers and coaches like I look at relationships. If you’re in it for almost a decade and there’s no ring, it’s probably time to move on, right? And I think that’s where we’re at. Tory Lavell is a great human being. Tory Lavell is a very good manager. Tory Lavell has done great things in Arizona. That all can be true, but sometimes things have an expiration date. And I kind of feel like that’s where we are with Tory Lavell. I mean, in a time where Tori has thrived in the past, where the odds are against his team, where things don’t seem like they’re in their favor, Tori rallied the troops, got them to play great, and got them to basically give the middle finger to what those expectations and that talk was. I thought maybe a few weeks ago we were going to get there, that all the talk was that this team needs to sell. It’s time to move on. And I I wasn’t there yet. I thought maybe Tori has it in him one more time. Maybe Tori can can get the guys to fight to show that chaos that brought them so much success in 2023 to dig deep and find guys in that bullpen that were going to come in and put them in the situation to succeed. They’ve scored eight runs in seven games. They scored one earned run in in a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yeah, those Pittsburgh Pirates. It feels like this team may have lost faith. Not just faith in their roster or what they were able to do, but maybe a little bit in to on Tori, too. Maybe they’ve lost faith in Tori. Can you go into, you know, if you’re selling whatever that next iteration of 2026 is with Tory Lavell still being your manager? Now, I think there is one way if you are writing off 2026 as a a year that you’re not going to spend or compete because they have a lot of injuries that are going to lead into next season with their pitching and essentially half their their starters are are going to walk out the door or have the ability to uh in terms of free agency. If you look at 2026 as a lost year and you look at 2027 and there’s so much labor strife that could happen, we’re talking a lockout. We’re talking missed games potentially. We’re talking a complete rework of the economic system of baseball if this goes the way the owners want. And guess what? Labor negotiations usually go the way the owners want. Maybe you don’t want to hire a new manager next year at knowing that you might have to sit on, you know, that there’s going to be money owed in a year that isn’t going to be one that you’re going to be able to do anything in either because of labor strife. I I feel like that might be why Tori remains. It’s probably not a good reason, but it it might be the reason that they do it because the team’s shown a willingness to spend. I can’t knock them on that like we have in the past. Uh they’ve done it. They’ve put their money where their mouth is the last two years, but it just didn’t work right. So, so I can understand the hesitation to spend going into 2026 again, especially when you got Corbin Burns sitting there with a lot of money that you owe uh owe him and he’s going to be out for a lot of the season thanks to his injury. I get it. But I think you got to look at Tory. Damon, where do you sit? You’re you’re a baseball guy. Where where are you now? Um it’s tough because I’ve always been a big Tory guy. Uh, I’ve always been a big, you know, Tory defender. I know that there’s he’s been polarizing in this fan base for a while. Anytime you have a manager, I think for nine years, it’s going to be polarizing, but I’ve always felt that Tory had a good grasp of the locker room and that the team was fully bought in on what he was pushing. After this Pirates series, that’s where you really have to start raising some eyebrows and saying to yourself like, has he lost the team? because it feels like with the guys getting traded that potentially he’s, you know, maybe the the the emotional leadership that he has always had is kind of, you know, going off his fingertips here. And so that’s where it’s, you know, I’m I’m a little bit concerned. I I want to see how they’re going to give him the end of this season. That’s a fact. They’re not going to fire Tory Lavo in the middle of the season. No. No. I want to see how he finishes out the season. If he can find anything, I think that earns him another year. But if they just completely collapse like they have been recently and just freef fall all the way till late August, how can you keep them? Yeah, I I think there’s a lot of questions to be answered that’ll go far beyond tomorrow’s trade deadline. Uh Damon, can you do me a favor? Can you put a chat or a poll in the chat asking if people want Jonathan Kaminga because I want to see how many people here actually do? Uh, you know, Jim Prescott in the chat says, “Pass on JK. He’s going to want too much money.” And, uh, Golden State doesn’t want anything we have. Uh, Don says, “I don’t want for that price.” Uh, a Pooh says, “JK to the Suns would be awesome.” I, again, I I I vacasillate depending on uh, who I’m talking to or what that price looks like. Uh, and I’m very interested to see where where people lie because like I said, uh, Twitter, uh, Twitter has been a dumpster fire with this. Uh, and not that it isn’t usually, uh, you know, uh, so that’s that’s a problem. Love y’all says, “Don’t want JK at all.” Uh, Ravi says 100%, but at what cost? Again, that is the big thing for me is at what cost? David says, “Yes, Kaminga would be a big upgrade to what we have. Give them Allen a second.” And also, if that’s the cost in terms of capital, I’m I’m okay with that. But I just Does Golden State accept that? I don’t know. AZ says ABG 602 says 90 million is way too much. Yeah, I I think it is. Uh Todd Packer, who said uh he’s a Warriors fan, says less than 20 million for JK is a good deal in my opinion. and you fit your style better than ours. Uh, but the thing is it’s 22 23 million is the rumor of what they’ve talked about. So, do do you It’s only slightly over that, but I I don’t know. Todd also says, “I’ll give you guys my opinion as a Warriors fan. Don’t ruin your newfound financial flexibility on Kaminga.” So, I think he’s kind of in agreement there. And it’s interesting to hear what uh what Golden State Warriors fans think about it uh as well. Where where do we sit on the poll, Damon? We’re almost out of time, so I I want to hear where we’re looking at the poll. Yeah, here on the poll results, we’re at almost a dead even lock here. 47 to 53%. 30 votes in in favor. Uh against, sorry, against. So So yeah, split down the middle. So, I guess I guess my Southwest bias might actually be on target this time, right? Uh, by the way, I think I’m gonna have a treat for for you guys tomorrow. We’ll talk more Kaminga and Suns if warranted. Maybe I’ll find a guest to talk about Jonathan Kaminga either in a supplemental video, somebody from Golden State or on the program tomorrow. But I also think we might have a former major league general manager to talk to us about what it is like to be in the room when you’re making trades and what he thinks about what the Diamondbacks have done or will do at the trade deadline. So we got plenty coming up on tomorrow’s Southwest Bias. He is Damon Dog. Damon Pharaoh. A big thank you for you filling in today. We are all Damon’s dogs. You can follow the show at phnx_ports. You can follow me at Espo and remember Jonathan Kaminga has a terrible nickname and maybe that is reason enough not to sign and trade for him. Ohoy. Hoy [Music] [Applause] like the mayor.

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Are the Phoenix Suns on the verge of another big move? According to multiple reports, the Suns are making the most aggressive trade offer yet to land Jonathan Kuminga from the Golden State Warriors. But doesn’t it make sense? Fans are torn as or some scouts.

0:00 Intro
0:55 Jonathan Kuminga to Suns?
5:00 Best Kuminga trade packages
20:00 Time for Torey Lovullo to go?
22:55 MLB lockout coming
26:00 The pulse of Phoenix Suns fans

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