Jonathan Kuminga is close to landing with the Los Angeles Lakers, but the deal is still sitting in limbo for one reason: the contract.
NBA Insider Keith Smith said the hold-up is not the trade framework or the Atlanta Hawks’ willingness to help get it done. The problem is Kuminga’s side, where the numbers and the contract length are not lining up with what the Lakers want.
“The challenge with Kuminga, and I talked to a lot of people about this throughout the course of the week, is Kuminga is not… if he’s going to take less money than what he wants, which the Lakers are talking something in the $15-16 million range, then he only wants to do it for a year. He doesn’t want to do the three-year deal.
And in order to be signed and traded, he would have to have a three-year contract. A sign-and-trade has to be at least three years in length.
And then that kind of gets him stuck a little bit.”
“So he doesn’t want to be on a smaller contract than what he values himself at. With that, and then for the Hawks, it sounds like the Hawks are ready to go with something centered around Jarred Vanderbilt and outgoing draft capital, as we’ve seen them do already this summer when they got Aaron Wiggins, and they got Luguentz Dort and the like.”
“But this time they get some draft capital coming in for facilitating a Kuminga sign-and-trade. But it sounds like it’s on Kuminga’s side, where he wants a little bit more money.
And you can’t do… a lot of people said, ‘Just do a one-year deal.’ You can’t do a one-year deal on a sign-and-trade.
It has to be a minimum of a three-year deal. So that’s where it’s a little bit stuck.”
That lines up with the league rules. In a sign-and-trade, the player has to sign for at least three years, with the first season fully guaranteed. So the one-year prove-it route that might make sense for Kuminga in another setting is not available here.
The Lakers have emerged as the clear favorite to get the 23-year-old forward. After Mario Hezonja chose the Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA Insider Brett Siegel reported that Los Angeles is Kuminga’s only realistic landing spot. With Cleveland out, the path now points toward a Lakers-Hawks sign-and-trade built around Jarred Vanderbilt.
Smith said Atlanta is prepared to take Vanderbilt’s contract and the draft capital attached to the move. The Lakers could also throw in a 2032 first-round pick swap to help push the deal through.
Still, the biggest question is what Kuminga will accept. Los Angeles is reportedly operating in the $15-16 million annual range, while Kuminga believes he is worth more and wants better terms before locking into three guaranteed seasons.
The logic for Kuminga is simple enough: if he takes less money, he would want the chance to hit free agency again next year after rebuilding his value. But the sign-and-trade rules do not give him that escape hatch.
Even with the delay, the Lakers remain aggressive. Since LeBron James left in free agency, the team has reshaped its roster around Luka Doncic, adding nine new faces already. What they still need is a starting-caliber forward, and Kuminga checks that box.
His athleticism, defensive versatility and rim pressure make him a clean fit next to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. The Lakers view him as an immediate starter, which says plenty about how strongly they value him.
Kuminga, the former No. 7 overall pick, has flashed that upside before. Last season, he averaged 12.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 46.3% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range in 36 games last season playing for the Golden State Warriors and the Hawks.
For now, the deal still comes down to Kuminga. If he and the Lakers can settle on a number and a contract structure that works for both sides, Los Angeles could land the athletic forward it has been chasing all offseason. If not, one of the summer’s most anticipated moves stays on the shelf.
In Other News...
Kobe's Old Lakers Message Just Made LeBron's Move Hit Harder
Kobe Bryants old comments about loyalty have taken on fresh weight in the wake of LeBron James decision to leave the Lakers for Philadelphia. In those resurfaced remarks, Kobe made clear that he saw staying with one franchise as part of the job, the kind of commitment that meant riding through the bad years as well as the good ones. For Lakers fans, it is the sort of message that lands differently when a star of LeBrons stature chooses a new path.
The debate around that move has only grown more layered because Kobes voice is being invoked on both sides of it. His career was built on the idea of enduring with the Lakers, and he even framed the down seasons as part of winning the right way. At the same time, LeBrons camp has suggested Kobe might have appreciated the competitive challenge of Philadelphia, which leaves the old Lakers standard and the modern star mindset in uneasy conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Lakers Ownership Just Took A Serious Turn Fans Wont Ignore
The Lakers ownership picture has taken on an uneasy new layer, with Mark Walter now facing scrutiny in an investigation that has nothing to do with basketball but plenty to do with the business empire behind the franchise. Walter, who also owns the Dodgers, has become part of a federal probe tied to allegations of financial improprieties involving Guggenheim Partners and insurance companies, a reminder that the people steering a teams future can be just as newsworthy as the roster itself.
The inquiry is still unfolding, and the uncertainty is the part Lakers fans will notice most. No charges have been filed and no wrongdoing has been proven, but the case has already drawn attention because of where it reached Walter and how far the questions appear to extend, including undisclosed loans and a deal with Mubadala Capital. For a franchise that lives under a constant spotlight, even off-court developments like this can ripple through the conversation around ownership. [Read more 🡒]
Austin Reaves Just Reopened A Frustrating Rockets Playoff Memory
Austin Reaves went back to a familiar talking point when he defended Deandre Aytons time with the Lakers, and it naturally sent the conversation back to the playoffs. Aytons run in Los Angeles was uneven, but there was a stretch when he looked like the kind of frontcourt piece the Lakers had been hoping for, especially in the first-round series against Houston, where he helped them get through in six games.
The problem for Ayton has always been the same one that has followed him around his career: the good stretches have not come often enough. His value has been shaped as much by inconsistency as by production, which is part of why the Lakers moved on and why Reaves comments reopened a memory that still stings for Rockets fans who watched Ayton tilt that matchup before the rest of the postseason went sideways. [Read more 🡒]