At long last, the Warriors’ months-long standoff with restricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga has reached its end.
A day before the deadline for Kuminga to accept the qualifying offer, the 22-year-old on Tuesday officially signed a new Warriors contract, the team announced.
While details of the deal were not disclosed, per team policy, sources confirmed to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson that it is a two-year, $48.5 million contract to return to Golden State with a team option on the second year. ESPN’s Shams Charania was first to report the news via Kuminga’s agent, Aaron Turner.
As the summer-long negotiations persisted, the Warriors ended up increasing their offer to Kuminga by a total of $8 million over the next two years and guaranteed him approximately $15 million more than his qualifying offer would have for this season, Charania reported.
Kuminga’s absence in the Bay hung like a cloud over Warriors Media Day on Monday and the first day of NBA training camp Tuesday, but coach Steve Kerr insisted he wasn’t concerned about the situation and, through conversations with general manager Mike Dunleavy, was confident the two sides would strike a deal.
Until Tuesday, Kuminga and the Warriors had not been unable to find common ground in July, August and all of September, save a few hours, bringing Golden State’s offseason to a standstill.
Entering restricted free agency, it was unclear which direction the Warriors might go with Kuminga, a player many within the organization love but at times hasn’t fit well with Golden State’s scheme centered around Steph Curry, and especially now with the addition of veteran Jimmy Butler.
But it’s clear both the Warriors and Kuminga want to continue their partnership for the time being.
Now that the Kuminga situation has been resolved, the Warriors officially can fill out their roster with free agents. The team has both Al Horford and De’Anthony Melton committed to contracts they couldn’t sign until the Kuminga situation was figured out, and it is widely believed that Steph Curry’s brother, Seth Curry, also is waiting to come on board.
In four seasons with Golden State, Kuminga has averaged 12.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game on 50.7-percent shooting from the field and 33.2 percent from 3-point range in 258 games (84 starts).
With the option to craft a new contract next summer, Kuminga now will have the chance to prove whether or not he’s worth an even larger payday when he takes the court with Golden State during the 2025-26 NBA season.
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