The Bucks were connected to Jonathan Kuminga for a while this offseason, but the trail seems to have led elsewhere all along.
Milwaukee had been mentioned alongside a few other names in the free-agent market, including restricted free agent Peyton Watson, who ended up in Cleveland last week in a sign-and-trade. Bennedict Mathurin was in the mix too, but he agreed to a two-year deal with New Orleans on Wednesday. That left Kuminga as the last target still on the board, until ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that he agreed to a two-year, $13 million deal with the Timberwolves.
By Tuesday, the choice had already been narrowed to Minnesota or LA. On a Bleacher Report livestream, NBA insider Jake Fischer said:
"Comes down to Minnesota or Los Angeles. Kuminga, I think, has seemed to prefer going to the Lakers."
That detail says plenty about where Kuminga’s head was. He was looking at a situation where he could help a contender, and Milwaukee simply no longer fits that description. The Bucks were already a tough sell for outside talent, and with Giannis Antetokounmpo gone, that only gets harder.
Los Angeles has long carried the kind of pull that comes with being the Lakers. Minnesota had its own appeal in this case, too, because Kuminga will get to play alongside Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball. Those are very different landing spots from Milwaukee, and very different basketball paths.
There’s also the possibility that the Bucks were never all that serious about Kuminga in the first place. Fischer made it sound like the one player Milwaukee was truly focused on was Watson.
Still, Kuminga’s fit with Minnesota makes sense on paper. At 23, he was looking at a chance to grow with a younger group and help shape a new culture in the post-Giannis era and in Taylor Jenkins’ first season as head coach. In Milwaukee, he might have had a better shot at putting up the kind of numbers he believes he can produce.
But value matters, and that’s where Minnesota gives him something Milwaukee couldn’t. If Kuminga can show he can contribute to winning basketball on a consistent basis, his stock stands to rise. Consistency has been the missing piece - he never found it in Golden State, and his time in Atlanta wasn’t long enough to establish much, even with some exciting stretches.
A starting role in Minnesota gives him a real runway, just as it would have in LA. It also adds pressure, which isn’t exactly a small thing given where his career stands right now.
But that didn’t scare him off. If anything, it helps explain why the decision came down to the Lakers or the Timberwolves, and why Milwaukee never looked like the final stop.
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