Jonathan Kuminga’s new two-year, $12.4 million deal with the Timberwolves is the latest reminder that the Warriors put themselves in a strange spot with him a year ago.
Kuminga settled for the taxpayer mid-level exception, which pays $6.1 million in the first season, after turning down a three-year, $75.2 million offer from Golden State last offseason. And that old number is the one that really jumps off the page now: the Warriors gave out a proposal that looks enormous in hindsight, especially with Kuminga now accepting a contract that comes with a similar structure but far less guaranteed money.
The negotiations between Kuminga and the Warriors dragged on for a while, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater. Mike Dunleavy Jr. first put a two-year, $45 million deal on the table, with a team option in the second season. Kuminga passed, wanting either a bigger annual salary or a player option.
Golden State then increased the offer to three years and $75.2 million, again with a team option in the third season. Kuminga turned that down too because of the team option.
Joe Lacob, meanwhile, was not in favor of a “balloon” one-year deal, not wanting to risk losing Kuminga for nothing in free agency. That eventually led to a two-year agreement worth up to $48.5 million, also with a team option in the second season.
With the benefit of hindsight, the bigger deal looks like a misread. Kuminga wound up taking a contract that still includes a team option, but at a much lower price tag and with more than $20 million less guaranteed than what the Warriors once put in front of him.
This offseason also made the market look pretty clear: the league did not value Kuminga anywhere near $75.2 million. That makes the Warriors’ original offer look reckless, and it makes the outcome all the more telling.
There’s no way to know exactly how things would have played out if he had accepted. But even then, it’s fair to think Kuminga and Steve Kerr would have still clashed at some point. The difference is that moving him would have been a lot harder.
That mattered this summer. Part of why the Hawks traded for Kuminga was because he was basically on an expiring deal, and they treated it that way by declining the team option and letting him hit free agency. It’s tough to imagine Atlanta making the same move - sending out Kristaps Porzingis - if Kuminga’s 2026-27 salary had been locked in.
Instead, Kuminga could have still been in Golden State, possibly pushing for a trade while the Warriors tried to find a deal they actually liked. In that sense, they did catch a break when he passed on the bigger number.
But the larger picture still isn’t flattering for the front office. The Warriors invested heavily in Kuminga as a future star and reportedly passed on multiple trades along the way, only to end up with a player who is so far from that ceiling that he’s now taking a two-year, $12.4 million deal heading into his sixth season.
Bob Myers was the GM when Kuminga was drafted, so this isn’t all on Mike Dunleavy Jr. And to Dunleavy’s credit, his draft record has been strong so far, with hits on Brandin Podziemski, Quinten Post and Will Richard, plus an encouraging early summer league showing from Yaxel Lendeborg.
Still, the Kuminga chapter was messy from start to finish, and that $75.2 million offer remains the clearest symbol of how messy it got.
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