The Warriors offseason may hinge on two Eastern Conference franchises.
The Golden State Warriors offseason hinges on Jonathan Kuminga. While a flurry of moves have followed the beginning of free agency, the Dubs have been quiet as they wait to reach a resolution to Kuminga’s restricted free agency. According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls have emerged as the most likely teams to entice Kuminga away from the Dubs. Of course, that’s only if the Warriors are intrigued enough with a sign-and-trade offer to part with Kuminga this offseason. The team could still re-sign him with plans to shop him again in December, when he would become trade eligible.
The Heat and Bulls have always been two of the more obvious potential landing spots for Kuminga. Miami is searching for another star to form a competitive core with Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo while the Bulls have seemed intent on making moves without a cohesive vision to perform relevance for the past decade.
On paper, the Heat would seem like the best possible landing spot for Kuminga. Unlike other landing spots, Miami has a solid supporting cast, but also the space for Kuminga to play a prominent role. While they barely made the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, they seem far closer to contention than other rumored Kuminga landing spots like the Bulls, Sacramento Kings, or New Orleans Pelicans.
From the Warriors perspective, Coby White on the Bulls would seem like the top sign-and-trade target on the squad. The Dubs could end up settling for long rumored target Nikola Vučević, but that would require some added salary and probably only happen if they lose out in a free agent pursuit of Al Horford. Otherwise, unless the Warriors are high on some combination of Kevin Huerter, Jalen Smith, or Ayo Dosunmo, they would probably need significant draft capital from Chicago to move with Kuminga.
Unless Miami were to convert Davion Mitchell’s recent extension to a sign-and-trade deal, the Warriors would probably be eyeing one of their young players (Nikola Jovic, Kel’el Ware, or Jaime Jacquez Jr.) as a centerpiece in a deal that also included some combination of Haywood Highsmith, Kyle Anderson, and a Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade to match salaries.
Granted, the current NBA CBA produces the conditions for multi-team trades. So there are other potential avenues to Kuminga landing with the Heat or Bulls with the help of another squad. However, with so many moving parts, it’s easy to see why there still is no resolution and why Golden State remains open to re-signing Kuminga instead.
The fact is, the Warriors put themselves in this decision by failing to extend or trade Kuminga before getting themselves to this point.