5 trades the Warriors can manifest with Jonathan Kuminga’s new contract offer

The Golden State Warriors still have nine players signed to standard NBA contracts, with training camp right around the corner. It’s baffling! We can pencil in Jonathan Kuminga and Al Horford at this point, but man, Golden State’s offseason of inactivity undermines whatever faint postseason hopes remain.

It’s especially strange to watch how Mike Dunleavy Jr. and the front office are handling the Kuminga saga. Golden State refuses to engage in sign-and-trade conversations despite clear skepticism over his fit long term. And now, the Warriors are effectively bidding against themselves. Their most recent offer to the former No. 7 pick, per ESPN’s Shams Charania, was for $75.2 million over three years, with a club option in 2027-28.

The Warriors are now offering Jonathan Kuminga a 3-year, $75.2M contract, per @ShamsCharania

“The Warriors have strengthened their effort. Late last week, Dunleavy offered Kuminga a three-year, $75.2 million deal with a team option in the third season, sources told ESPN. That’s… pic.twitter.com/FPkFxU6nVU

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 15, 2025That is, frankly, an absurd price for a role player whose relationship with your Hall of Fame coach is notoriously fickle, and whose fit on the roster is plainly untenable. There’s a difference between keeping an asset and straight up overspending.

Kuminga can still accept his qualifying offer in order to expedite his departure, but it will be difficult to pass up so much guaranteed money given his career arc to date. Plus, given the purported interest in Kuminga around the league, Golden State probably hopes to trade the 22-year-old before he hits free agency again. There’s no chance he gets to that club option.

Should we end up in a situation where Kuminga is making $25 million annually and on the trade block, here are a few realistic trade avenues for the Warriors to explore — trades that Kuminga would almost certainly welcome.

Jonathan Kuminga can get the freedom he wants in BrooklynFrankly, there’s not much reason for the Brooklyn Nets to pursue Kuminga, whose potential impact in a higher-usage role warrants skepticism. Brooklyn already has Michael Porter Jr. and Cam Thomas, so the “buckets first, questions later” archetype is well represented. And yet, there is a world in which Kuminga, freed from Steve Kerr’s doghouse and adopted into a more patient developmental ecosystem, can improve his value. Plus, it’s a two-year contract and the Nets won’t need to worry about balancing the cap sheet within the next two years.

Should the Warriors find themselves especially motivated to offload Kuminga midseason, the Nets have the financial flexibility to accommodate them. Kuminga wants to go somewhere he can be an All-Star. Brooklyn will certainly let him shoot enough. I’m not convinced that Kuminga actually has this hidden All-Star potential, but if he wants to jack up his usage rate and put numbers on the board, Brooklyn is a dream spot — even if he’s taking turns with the aforementioned Porter and Thomas.

Brooklyn brought in five first-round picks this summer, and four of them are essentially non-shooting point guards (or point centers, in the case of Danny Wolf). So the Nets would essentially surround Kuminga and their other ball-dominant gunners with a collection of selfless table-setters, hoping to establish an up-tempo, quick-hitting offense that can punch above its weight. Jordi Fernandez happens to be one of the best up-and-coming coaches in the league, so the Nets might actually find a way to make this fun.

Should the Dubs ask for more value — and to be clear, Brooklyn should proceed with extreme caution here — the Nets have a couple extra guards now, like Ben Saraf and Nolan Traoré, not to mention other young upside bets like Dariq Whitehead or Noah Clowney, all of whom could interest the Warriors.

Of course the Bulls would trade for Jonathan KumingaKuminga kinda, sorta makes sense in a Chicago Bulls uniform. God knows how badly the Bulls need depth in the frontcourt, especially at the forward positions. Noa Essengue will need a few years to get up to speed, so it’s basically Matas Buzelis, Patrick Williams and spare parts. Kuminga can start instantly and incur a primary scoring role for a team that actually fancies itself a postseason threat, although we all know Chicago will peak as the ninth seed in a feeble Eastern Conference.

In terms of play style and personnel, Chicago’s roster would accomodate Kuminga quite nicely. Josh Giddey is the perfect egoless “star,” his entire approach rooted in setting up his teammates with quick-hitting passes in transition or savvy pick-and-roll feeds in the halfcourt. Chicago’s lineup is extremely guard-heavy, with a lot of supplementary playmakers stationed around Giddey. That should allow Kuminga to embrace his strengths as a decisive off-ball scorer.

Nikola Vučević isn’t long for Chicago and the Warriors need frontcourt depth, even with Horford essentially signed, sealed and delivered. Age is a factor for Vučević (and the Warriors as a whole), but he was still extremely productive last season and there’s potential for a lot of fun two-man actions with Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler.

Portland’s 2026 first-round pick is lottery protected, so the Bulls aren’t risking any more than the 15th overall pick in addition to Vooch’s expiring contract. While Kuminga is not “better” than Vučević right now, his youth and his longer-term contract should mean more for a Chicago team that desperately needs to start planning for the future, not stewing in a perpetually bleak present.

Warriors can try to swindle the Pelicans out of Trey Murphy IIIThe Warriors are interested in New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy, per B/R’s Jake Fischer. Murphy is an efficient, high-volume shooter who’s beginning to deliver star-level impact for the Pelicans, so trading him for Kuminga, who doesn’t fit their new-look roster in the slightest, sounds like an instant turn-off. But these are Joe Dumars’ New Orleans Pelicans. The man traded for Jordan Poole and gave up an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to move up seven spots for Derik Queen on draft night. We cannot ascribe conventional wisdom to New Orleans’ team-building strategy.

Every front office in the league should be spamming the Pelicans’ phone lines with a plan to swindle Dumars. New Orleans has plenty of draft capital, but giving up next year’s first-round pick was a huge gamble — an irresponsible one, frankly. The Warriors aren’t going to finish at the bottom of the standings, especially not with Murphy in tow, but stocking up on more picks is smart. Maybe it can help New Orleans move up in the deep 2026 draft to counteract their inevitable lottery pick ending up in a Hawks uniform.

Murphy is the perfect schematic fit for Golden State on the wing. He can bomb 3s from well behind the arc and benefit from the gravity of Curry and Butler. His play style is far more aligned with Steve Kerr’s values than Kuminga.

In New Orleans, Kuminga gets to take on a larger role. I’d pay good money to watch Zion Williamson slowly lose his mind as Kuminga and Poole trade isos. On a more serious note, New Orleans would have a ton of athleticism and natural scoring ability on the roster. How it all meshes together is unclear, but given Dumars’ track record to date, it’s safe to say that the Hall of Fame shooting guard and new Pelicans GM probably likes the Kuminga archetype.

Suns can replace Kevin Durant with Jonathan Kuminga (I’m so sorry, Phoenix fans)The two teams most credibly connected to Kuminga trade talks so far are the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns, which should probably inform your opinion on Kuminga as a player. Not exactly the most functional front offices in the NBA. That said, the Suns are looking to re-spark the offense after the Kevin Durant trade. Kicking the tires on Kuminga, still 22, at least gestures at an attempt to build a more sustainable core around Devin Booker.

Salaries match on Dillon Brooks and Nick Richards. Both would play an immediate role for Golden State — Brooks as a defensive energizer bunny on the wing, Richards as a rim-running backup five who can provide a different look in non-Horford, non-small ball lineups. The combined psychosis emanating from Brooks and Draymond Green alone is worth the price of admission. There’s a good chance that duo sets a new record for technical fouls between two players in a single season.

For the Suns, Kuminga can take on second banana duties next to Booker. I’m not convinced that Kuminga can efficiently sustain such a workload, but hey, it can’t be worse than letting Jalen Green chunk 20 shots a game. For the longest time, Phoenix has needed to get younger and more athletic. While Kuminga should be viewed with a healthy mistrust, it’s easy to forget how young he is — and how Golden State really has failed him on some level, even if that fraying relationship is a two-way street.

This is a far more interesting swing than anything the Suns managed during the KD-Bradley Beal era. Odds are we wouldn’t see Phoenix compete much in the West, but at least Kuminga gets a chance to develop into a genuine franchise cornerstone for a team that believes in his ceiling, unlike the Warriors.

Kings badly want Jonathan Kuminga, which is what it isThe reported offer from Sacramento in Malik Monk (and matching salary) and a 2030 first-round pick. That feels like a no-brainer for the Dubs. Monk is a better player and he’d bring more life to the second unit. Golden State still lacks perimeter shot-making aside from Steph, and Monk can create his own offense in bursts. He has also developed into a functional point guard with a far more wide-ranging skill set than he possessed coming out of Kentucky. Monk’s work ethic and developmental arc deserves serious praise.

Dario Šarić is essentially a throw-in, but he’s another malleable option in the Warriors frontcourt behind Al Horford and Draymond Green. The Warriors could do worse than to load up on big men who can space the floor, whip passes from the elbow, and grease the wheels for their high-octane offense. Šarić is a compromising presence on defense, but he’s legitimately skilled (and extremely fun) on offense.

Sacramento should not want Kuminga, especially not if it costs them Monk and a first-round pick, but this is tangibly reported interest, so it is what it is. The Kings’ front office is a mess and the franchise is plenty familiar with trades that look good on paper but immediately set them back. Watching Kuminga try to fit into an offense built around Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine would be painful, but the Kings are committed to giving him a starting spot, which is all Kuminga wants.

Is there any potential trepidation from Golden State about trading Kuminga within the division? Probably not. We know the Kings aren’t going anywhere with Kuminga putting up “All-Star” numbers, so the Warriors front office can rest easy as clean winners of this (seemingly very possible) trade.