At some point, the Golden State Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga will need to reach an agreement. The explosive forward’s restricted free agency has become the saga of the summer thus far, and his holdout is reportedly slowing down the franchise’s ability to begin strengthening the current roster.
In recent weeks, the notion of the Warriors potentially working on a sign-and-trade for Kuminga has been floated, with both the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns the most likely trade partners. However, after weeks of stagnation, Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard has reported that Golden State is now unlikely to trade Kuminga. Instead, he will need to either sign the contract on offer from the Warriors or ink his $7.9 million qualifying offer.
“The word I got when I checked in with a Warriors source on Sunday: Kuminga won’t be traded this summer. He’ll be back on the Warriors’ roster to start the season,” Kawakami reported. “And it’ll either come when he signs the Warriors’ offer or accepts the $7.9 million one-year qualifying offer.”
Kuminga will likely choose to sign his qualifying offer. He will then become an unrestricted free agent next summer. And while potentially losing their former lottery pick next summer is arguably the worst-case scenario, at least it would bring the current stalemate to an end.
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Until the Warriors and Kuminga reach an agreement, the franchise cannot add new talent to the rotation. According to reports, both Al Horford’s and De’Anthony Melton’s deals with the team are on hold until the situation with Kuminga is sorted out. Therefore, the hope must be that Kuminga and Golden State’s front office reach an agreement shortly.
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This article originally appeared on Warriors Wire: Warriors unlikely to trade Jonathan Kuminga this summer: Report