Obviously, there’s been a ton of talk about potential sign-and-trade scenarios for Jonathan Kuminga lately. There are healthy debates about whether or not Steve Kerr can find a way to integrate him — more on this later on this website when we post Kerr’s exit interview transcript, as well as snippets from his recent appearance on Tim Kawakami’s podcast.
But should Mike Dunleavy, Jr. just try to keep Kuminga?
After all, at the exit interviews Dunleavy said, “As far as bringing him back next season, I think it’s something that we’re very interested in doing because when I look at the things JK does well, in terms of getting to the rim, finishing, getting fouled, these are things we greatly need and we know he can bring those to the table. It’s not hypothetical — it’s not a guy in the Draft that we think can do it.”
And yet that contradicts some of the reasons he wasn’t playing, as I’ve detailed before, here:
In JK’s defense, we have to remember that he only came to the US at age 13. As I’ve said on nearly every livestream when Jonathan gets mentioned in the comments, by definition he’s at least three years behind the typical American baller brought up through the AAU system, playing organized basketball with referees and tournaments and photogs and highlight reels, things like that.
That’s why, just last week, when there’s a long rebound and it’s a 50-50 chase to the ball in the corner, the smaller Donte DiVincenzo gets to the ball instead of him. JK just doesn’t have enough reps against quality individual opponents yet, which is atypical of an NBA player who just finished his fourth full season. He probably hasn’t had the training in programs like DiVincenzo’s Villanova under legends like Jay Wright. Kuminga sometimes shows that he “doesn’t know what he doesn’t know”.
But there are greater financial forces at work. At the initial posting of this article behind the paywall below, I give you the reasons why Dunleavy should just keep Kuminga and why that’s likely matching an offer sheet — and from whom that offer sheet comes. You can also simply watch this “salary cap workshop” video, which has topics and timestamps in the Description and Comments:
The paywall below disappears when I post the next article. As such, the previous article that contains the transcripts from Brandin Podziemski’s last interview of the season is also now unlocked.