Miami Heat INTERESTED in Jonathan Kuminga | Trade With Warriors Coming?

Miami Heat INTERESTED in Jonathan Kuminga | Trade With Warriors Coming?

all right what’s up everybody welcome to Locked on Heat i’m Wes Goldberg a bonus episode for you here with some breaking rumors on draft day thanks for making Locked on Heat your first listen every day make sure you click that subscribe button while you’re here on YouTube make sure you are following us on your podcast app also make sure to tune in to our live draft show on YouTube starting at 7:30 Eastern half an hour before the start of the NBA draft will have all the latest on what the Heat are going to do with the 20th pick as well as our instant reactions when they do make the pick uh but I want to get to this report from the Athletic anthony Slater went to Cleveland where Jonathan Kaminga is doing his offseason training and wrote a piece about Kaminga’s future uh about how he wants a bigger role and a chance to be a featured player for a team jonathan Kaminga is a restricted free agent this summer it’s the biggest story among Warriors fans right now about what are they going to do with Kaminga uh he doesn’t really fit into Golden State’s long-term plans he can’t he doesn’t get many shots when Steph and now Jimmy Butler are on the court um after Steph got hurt Kaminga did get a little bit more time in the playoffs but before Steph’s injury Steve Kerr basically took him out of the rot not basically he took him out of the rotation he wasn’t a part of their playoff rotation and it just it hasn’t really clicked with him in Golden State so here’s what Slater wrote i’m going to put it up on the screen here on YouTube quote “The Kevin Durant trade might have helped the Miami Heat missed out on Durant and have legitimate Kaminga interest per League sources among others expecting to explore the idea as the market materializes the Brooklyn Nets loom as a possible offer sheet team but did use a chunk of their cap space in a Tuesday night trade.” So the Nets part of this is important because they took on the Terrence Man contract into their cap space which wasn’t a ton of money it’s about $15 million but they just don’t have as much cap space to use where they had like $40 $50 million something like that in space um so now they can’t just go and I mean I guess they still could i don’t know how motivated they would be to just go and throw this huge max offer on a guy in Kamingo who has a ton of talent but hasn’t really shown it consistently at the NBA level yet is that really what they want to be doing with their cap space probably not not to the degree to the point of where it would be like too much for Golden State to even bother matching it right because Kaminga is a restricted free agent so even if a team like Brooklyn were to come in and offer him a huge contract Golden State still has the right of first refusal they can match it and then Kaminga is back on the roster uh and that’s why I think most people in Golden State and around that team believe that Kaminga will probably just resign a deal with the Warriors as a restricted free agent because there’s just not a lot of cap space out there this summer and we don’t know what teams are even motivated to go after Kaminga and throw a bunch of money at him and it might just make more sense for Golden State to bring him back even though he doesn’t fit and then just try to trade him around the trade deadline maybe when there’s more options open but again to Slater’s report here now that the Heat missed out on Kevin Durant and it didn’t ever really feel like they were that in on Kevin Durant who’s going to be 37 at the start of the season do they actually want to go younger and go after a guy like Kaminga who David and I talk about this all the time on the show second draft guys guys who didn’t necessarily work out in their first stops but maybe they just need a new a change of scenery a new team a new situation and there’s no questioning Kaminga’s talent right he can average double digit points you know the defense kind of comes and goes but when it’s on it’s on in a big way there’s real two-way potential with him the outside jumper is the big swing factor with him he doesn’t really you have to kind of beg him to rebound you kind of have he’s inconsistent motor defensively and offensively he wants to be a featured guy he doesn’t really want to be a guy who plays off of somebody like Steph and Jimmy Butler who’s mostly used as a cutter and stuff like that he wants the ball in his hands he wants to take mid-range shots this is a guy who grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant he used to I did a story on Kaminga his rookie year and he was talking to me about how he used to go to an internet cafe and just pull up YouTube clips of Kobe Bryant and just study them and study the footwork and then try to recreate the moves um outside later in the day this is a guy who really wants an opportunity so you can look at that as a positive and a negative right like the positive is he wants more and you can only get more if you want more that’s kind of how the NBA works on the flip side of it is he doesn’t really do a good job fitting into a role but if Miami is looking for somebody to just throw the rock to and be a featured guy in addition to Bam and Tyler Herro Kaminga wouldn’t be playing off of them the way that he would be playing off of somebody like Steph who is just a system unto himself right it’s very complicated to play with somebody like Steph Curry because he is the entire system in Miami even playing with guys like Tyler Herro and Bam Adabio it’s just a little bit more straightforward you can give him the ball in the low post he could go to work he can kick out to Tyler Herro you know he could throw that lob to Bam Adabio or whatever it might be but here’s the other part that I wanted to get to from Slater’s uh story here and I do encourage you to go ahead and check it out in the Athletic in Full but quote or this is what John Daminga told uh Slater that’s what’s been on my mind in terms of being more of a featured guy that’s what’s been on my mind things take time but I feel like I’m at the point where that has to be my priority to just be one of the guys a team relies on aiming to be an all-star multiple times aiming to be great wherever I’m going to be at if it don’t matter if it’s with the Warriors or if it’s anywhere else it’s something that I want i want to see what I can do i know I got it so I want to really see i’ve never got that chance.” End quote this is a guy who wants it he wants it desperately it doesn’t mean it’s going to work out but he’s clearly looking for a change of scenery and if it was up to Kaminga I’m sure he would rather be an unrestricted free agent unfortunately he’s restricted so how do the Heat get him it’s complicated i’ll talk about that in a second here first uh today’s one more thing here on Locked on Heat is brought to you by Open Phone if you are running a business you know that every missed call is money left on the table think about the last time you had an urgent need maybe a plumber or for a service provider if the per if the first person did not answer did you wait probably not you moved on that’s why you need Open Phone open Phone is the number one business phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or your computer open Phone lets you manage business calls and texts from a single app the shared inbox feature is a game changer your team can jump into any conversation instantly without missing a beat and their AI generated calls uh their AI agent handles afterhour calls answers common questions and captures leads so you never miss a customer open Phone is offering our listeners 20% off your first 6 months at openphone.com/locktonba that’s open phone op.com/lockedonba and if you have an existing number with another service open phone will port them over at no extra charge open phone no missed calls no missed customers uh how can the Miami Heat get Jonathan Kaminga if they are indeed interested in Kaminga and by the way Slater does great reporting here i believe it when he says it he’s also not the first person to link Kaminga and Miami my big question was whether or not that reported interest was Miami maybe trying to get Kaminga in the original Jimmy Butler deal at the trade deadline you’ve heard things about how they’ve investigated Kaminga they’ve done their due diligence on the Kaminga and all these things was that just background back in February that we’re now hearing about now or is this recent stuff and from Slater’s reporting it sounds like it’s more recent it sounds like this is something that could happen potentially why did it not happen in February well number one Miami lost all their leverage in the Jimmy Butler stuff maybe had they traded Jimmy Butler earlier in the season they could have gotten Kaminga the other part of this was the salary matching part right it was kind of hard for Golden State to put Kaminga in the deal if they were also it was basically like Kaminga or Kyle Anderson it wasn’t like a Kaminga or Wiggins situation and at that point in February Wiggins plus Kaminga plus a draft pick was probably going to be too much for Jimmy Butler when all the other options dried up so Miami didn’t have leverage to go ahead and get Kaminga they also the salary matching part of it was also complicated back then but that becomes a little bit easier now in the offseason so maybe Miami figured in February look we can’t get Kaminga now but maybe we can revisit Kaminga in the offseason that might be what’s going on here especially now that they’ve missed out on Kevin Durant and maybe they want to go younger jonathan Kaminga is still really young uh he’s obviously going to get a new contract here u but he’s 22 years old bam’s 27 tyler’s 25 he’s a little bit younger than those guys but he’s super talented honestly I’ve not been the biggest Kaminga guy i just haven’t liked what he’s looked like in Golden State i don’t like guys where you have to just beg and plead for them to do winning things but again these are the risks these are the these are the buy low chances that you take on those second draft guys who have a ton of talent the t the talent is undeniable and if Miami thinks that they can get more out of Kaminga then I it could be worth the risk depending on what it costs so how can the Heat get Jonathan Kaminga now the number one opt Well again they’re hard uh well going back to the restricted free agency part of this Miami does not have cap space so they can’t just offer Kaminga a bunch of money to the point where Golden State just doesn’t offer it miami doesn’t have any cap space so they can’t do it however they can do it via sign and trade which is a little bit more complicated so number one if you’re going to pull off a sign and trade if you’re going to complete a signin trade you are under the new CBA immediately hardcapped at the first apron fortunately that should not be a problem for the Heat they have about $18 million with a pretty full roster below that first apron and assuming that their salary going back to Golden State in a signin trade you’ll have even a little bit more of a cushion to work with there um something would have to go back to Golden State though would they like to have Andrew Wiggins back that to me is the interesting name wiggins is a much cleaner fit with Steph and with Jimmy Butler he could space the floor plays defense is very very happy almost I would say prefers to play more of that supporting cast role than be a featured player where that’s what Kaminga wants to do now if you could swap Wiggins for Kaminga I wonder if Golden State wouldn’t just be like you know what our windows now Wiggins works with us we love him in this locker room he’s an easy fit he loved being here there’s no other real takers for Kaminga in the sign and trade market screw it let’s just do it right i wonder if that’s where this ends up there’s other options right i don’t know if Golden State would be interested in in Duncan Robinson’s non-g guaranteed salary would they be interested in Rosier’s expiring i don’t think so again this is a team in win now mode not necessarily a team that’s looking to save money even though they do have to be money conscious considering where they are against the aprons and the salary cap and payroll and all that stuff but um I don’t think they would be interested if if it was basically just Duncan Robinson or Terry Rosier’s contract i think they would honestly just prefer to resign Kaminga and just deal with it at the trade blood line and see if they can get something better then right like they do not have to make this decision now they could try to bring Kaminga back see if it works and if it does work great lottery pick popped that’s awesome um and if not you could still trade him by February but again I go back to the Wiggins thing here if Miami just called him up and said “Hey look we couldn’t do Wiggins we couldn’t put Kaminga in that Wigan spot in the Jimmy Butler trade back then because of salary matching but what if we just swap him now you take Wiggins back he was a fit for you there in Golden State he loved being there he likes playing that supporting role he’s an easier fit with Steph and Jimmy Butler you guys are looking to make a run in the in the Western Conference you guys are in win now mode take Wiggins proof of concept you know he works there and we’ll just take Kaminga off your hands and maybe it’s a contract worth a little bit more around $30 million a year for Kaminga does he hold out for more maybe maybe it’s 35 maybe it’s 40 i don’t know if my if that’s too expensive for Miami at this point but I wonder if you could get Golden State to bite by just being like “Hey do you want Wiggins back?” It’s interesting uh we’ll cover this more i mean there’s a ton going on in the NBA i just wanted to hop on here really quick and talk a little bit about Jonathan Kaminga make sure you tune in later on live draft show david and I will be at CASSA Center for the Miami Heats watch party so if you’re going to be there stop by say hi if not you could check us out on YouTube live starting 7:30 Eastern time we are going to be recording for the half hour before the start of the draft and then we’ll be popping on again to for our instant reactions to what Miami does in the draft whether it’s a 20 or whatever ends up happening here uh and then we’ll have another full episode breaking down the pick and whatever else happens on draft night after that thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day

The Miami Heat are reportedly interested in Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga. How would he fit with the Heat roster, could they realistically get him, and what would it cost? Wes Goldberg breaks down the latest rumors.

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