The Sacramento Kings have spent the past year orbiting Jonathan Kuminga, but the latest read on the situation suggests they’re no longer in the center of it.
That’s a notable shift for a team that had been openly tied to Kuminga in trade chatter before the Golden State Warriors dealt him to the Atlanta Hawks. Now that he’s a restricted free agent, Sacramento still has interest in the 23-year-old forward. The problem is that interest alone doesn’t get much done.
ESPN’s Anthony Slater reported this week that the Kings remain intrigued, but their finances have made any real push difficult. As Slater wrote, "The Kings have also maintained interest in unrestricted free agent wing Jonathan Kuminga, but unlike last summer, they have been hesitant to get into sign-and-trade conversations, in part because they are hard capped at the first apron," Slater wrote. "Without such a move with the Atlanta Hawks, they would have only a minimum to offer, so those talks have gone nowhere, league sources said."
That’s the crux of it: Sacramento may like Kuminga, but it doesn’t have the kind of package Atlanta would want in a sign-and-trade, and it also doesn’t have the salary room to make a competitive offer. Kuminga is clearly looking for more than a minimum, which leaves the Kings on the outside looking in.
The silence around this potential fit is also telling. For most of last offseason and again at February’s trade deadline, Kuminga-to-Sacramento buzz was impossible to ignore. This time, there’s been very little noise.
Kuminga has instead been linked more heavily to the Los Angeles Lakers, with the Cleveland Cavaliers also entering the conversation as a possible landing spot. For the Kings, that leaves a familiar but frustrating position: still interested, but not equipped to really chase.
There’s also a practical side to this. Sacramento still has two open roster spots and needs at least one more player on a standard contract.
That could mean a veteran guard, or it could mean elevating two-way forward Jonathan Mogbo to a standard deal. Either way, the Kings appear to be preparing to move forward without Kuminga.
There is one highly unlikely path where Sacramento gets back in the mix. If Kuminga were to accept a one-year deal at the veteran minimum, the Kings would suddenly become a top suitor. But that kind of bet is rare, and players usually don’t walk away from that sort of money without a much clearer payoff.
For now, the Kings seem comfortable enough with what they have on the wing. It may be the weakest part of the roster, but it is not viewed as a major issue heading into next season. The current projection has Keegan Murray and De’Andre Hunter starting, with Alex Karaban and Precious Achiuwa coming off the bench.
So while Kuminga still fits the kind of timeline Sacramento wants, the path to a reunion looks blocked. After all the speculation since last summer, the Kings may finally be stepping away from the idea that they were ever destined to land him.
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Point guard remains the most obvious place to look, and Russell Westbrook is among the names that could still enter the conversation if Sacramento wants a veteran option. The Kings also have younger free-agent possibilities to consider, but the more practical answer may already be on the roster in another form, with Jonathan Mogbo sitting on a two-way deal and in position to force the issue before the season arrives. This is the kind of late summer decision fans tend to debate most, because it says a lot about whether the Kings want one more established hand or prefer to round out the group by promoting from within. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Interest In Jonathan Kuminga May Hit A Familiar Wall
Jonathan Kumingas free agency has already become a test of how badly interested teams want to get creative, and Sacramento appears to be one of them. The Kings have been linked to the young forward, but their pursuit comes with the same hard financial realities that have complicated so many of their recent roster-building efforts, leaving them looking for a way to stay in the mix without the freedom to simply outbid anyone.
A sign-and-trade could be the path that keeps Sacramento alive here, with DeAndre Hunter and draft picks emerging as the kind of framework that might get the conversation moving. Even then, the Kings are not operating from a position of strength, and Kumingas attention seems to be drifting toward other suitors such as the Lakers, which only raises the pressure on Sacramento to find a workable answer before the market moves on without them. [Read more 🡒]