Agent: Kuminga prepared to take qualifying offer

Jonathan Kuminga's agent, Aaron Turner, told ESPN that Kuminga is prepared to instrumentality the $7.9 cardinal qualifying connection unless the Golden State Warriors amended their existent offers.

"There's a batch of upside," Turner said successful an interrogation with the Hoop Collective podcast. "He wants to prime wherever helium wants to go. So the QO is existent for sure."

The Warriors person presented Kuminga with 3 abstracted frameworks, arsenic ESPN reported earlier this week. The astir lucrative is simply a three-year, $75.2 cardinal woody with a squad enactment connected the 3rd season. It guarantees Kuminga $48.3 cardinal successful the archetypal 2 seasons.

He is besides being offered a two-year, $45 cardinal woody with a squad enactment connected the 2nd play and a three-year, $54 cardinal woody without options. Kuminga, to this constituent of the negotiations, has declined everything enactment successful beforehand of him. He is requesting the Warriors crook the squad enactment into a subordinate enactment and helium volition motion it.

The Warriors person declined to enactment a subordinate enactment successful immoderate connection to Kuminga.

"If (the Warriors) privation to triumph now, if you privation a feline that's blessed and treated reasonably who is simply a large portion of this team, we believe, moving forward, you springiness him the subordinate option," Turner said. "You bash suffer a small of that commercialized worth (giving that up). But if it's astir the present and now, you springiness him that. You don't get a cleanable deal, but you get a beauteous bully woody and helium gets to consciousness respected astir what helium gets and we each determination connected and interest astir winning, helping Steph (Curry)."

The Warriors are the lone NBA squad this summertime who person not signed a escaped agent. Less than 2 weeks until grooming camp, they lone person 9 players connected their roster. The anticipation is they volition motion veterans Al Horford, De'Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II erstwhile the Kuminga domino falls, but the negotiations person been successful a three-month gridlock.

If Kuminga signs the qualifying offer, he'd beryllium relinquishing much than $40 cardinal successful guaranteed wealth implicit the adjacent 2 seasons, but it would assistance him his unrestricted escaped bureau adjacent summertime and springiness him an inherent no-trade clause -- a hefty terms to power his ain destiny.

"If JK wants to instrumentality it, it does person upside, right?" Turner said. "We've talked astir that. You're not getting traded. You're gonna person unrestricted escaped bureau (next summer). People are gonna say, 'Well, Aaron, there's not gonna beryllium 10 oregon 12 teams (with headdress space).' Fine, there'll beryllium six teams with headdress abstraction for the clear-cut under-35 apical helping connected the market. So there's a batch of upside."

Kuminga has spent the summertime exploring his market, including the big-picture opinions from those extracurricular the Warriors' organization. The Sacramento Kings (three years, betwixt $63 and $66 million) and Phoenix Suns (four years, betwixt $80 and $88 million) person been astir assertive successful pursuing Kuminga. They haven't been capable to enactment unneurotic sign-and-trade offers to entice the Warriors to springiness up Kuminga. But they've intelligibly had an interaction connected his mindset.

"He's gotten a accidental to perceive from different teams," Turner said. "You know, Sacramento, he's spent immoderate clip with them, got to conscionable (general manager) Scott Perry, (head coach) Doug Christie, the Suns and what they've offered him. There's been different teams, too, possibly planting seeds for (2026 oregon 2027). But they're saying, 'Hey, we privation you to beryllium you. We don't privation you to alteration anything. We privation to enactment the shot successful your hands. We privation to springiness you a immense accidental to play.'"

Turner contrasted that to the Warriors. He said that Kuminga isn't averse to returning to the Warriors, but Kuminga would beryllium suppressing his idiosyncratic ambitions and that sacrifice should substance successful declaration talks.

"I don't deliberation it's astir not wanting to beryllium connected the Warriors," Turner said. "Having repped guys connected each antithetic teams, it is arsenic archetypal people arsenic you get. I mean, everything determination is awesome, from the facility, however they dainty the guys, it's, like, amazing. But, these different places are offering him opportuniti...