Who Is To Blame For Jonathan Kuminga And Golden State Warriors Stalemate?

Who Is To Blame For Jonathan Kuminga And Golden State Warriors Stalemate?

On today’s show, a deep dive into Ge Santos’s splits. Just kidding. We’re talking Jonathan Kaminga, the trade to the Phoenix Suns. Does Grayson Allen make a little bit of sense? And we got Matt Koulsky on the show today who is providing you with reasons why JK has been screwed and not the other way around. That’s on today’s Locked Onyas. You are Locked on Warriors, your daily Golden State Warriors podcast. What are they going to say now? Part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. What is the good word everyone? Welcome to the Lockdown Warriors, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today’s episode’s brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers get 150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Check them out at fanduel.com. My name’s Charlie Walter. You can check out the show on YouTube or wherever you get your audio podcast. My credentials cover the Golden State Warriors as a credential media member for 957 a game. That’s the flagship. Also on TV for CBS News Bay Area hosting this show Monday through Friday whenever news breaks and live after every single game. And my co-host who is typically with me staying up late breaking down Warriors wins and losses, Matt Koulski. You can hear him uh formerly on 957 the game. K&BR, longtime radio personality in the Bay Area and now teams up to give me some takes on this program. On today’s show, we’re going to get into the real Kaminga problem. I’ve heard so much about the Kaminga situation. What is the situation? What is the issue? We’re going to dissect all this. And then Grayson Allen is a name that’s been brought up from the Phoenix Suns side is a centerpiece in a trade. We’ve talked all about the Sacramento Kings deal. the Phoenix Suns. Does it make a little sense? We’ll break down all these things. What’s good, Kolski? Nothing’s happened since the last time I’ve talked to you. Yeah. Uh been God, feels like a month and Zero Warrior signings, so I don’t feel like I missed much. Um, I continue to wake up every morning and look at Anthony Slater’s uh, Twitter andor threads. And, you know, I’m hopeful something’s going to happen, but uh, it is it is starting to look more and more likely that the best hope for a Warriors fan is actually bringing Kaminga back on a multi-year deal. Uh, because you certainly don’t want him back on that mid-level or I’m sorry, the qualifying offer from restricted free agency. All right, let’s get into this Kaminga dilemma. We’ve heard so much about it. Warriors are in a pickle. What is the main pickle? Is it that he’s still on the team? Is it that the trades are at best mediocre if not poo poo platters? Is it the dilemma that Kerr couldn’t find a way to make JK fit in? Or is it this dilemma or in in your eyes the best option here that he could be back thus counting on his presence alone to not be a distraction? Which of these is truly the biggest dilemma that we face right now in the JK saga? For me, it’s the coach thing. Um because look, there are a lot of things here that are sort of out of anyone’s control, right? I mean, I think we can all imagine a world where Jonathan Kaminga got all the opportunity he could have desired. He tried his best and it didn’t work out, right? That wouldn’t be great, but then you at least would know what you’re dealing with. You know, we can all imagine a scenario where Jonathan Kaminga got more minutes and more faith from coaching staff and became a a contributing member of the Warriors and that obviously would have been much better. Um, we can also imagine a scenario where Jonathan Kaminga got a s a sincere investment from the coaching staff, played well enough to impress a lot of people and still didn’t fit into what Steve Kerr and his his coaches wanted and they were able to come up with a good trade for him. But to me, the situation we’re in now, which is he doesn’t have the value on the open market that he would like because a he no one know totally knows what he is and b it’s like also an unfortunate coincidence of nobody having salary cap and we’re sort of at this inflection point in the NBA where free agency is not really a thing anymore and the bigname players mostly get signed and then just demand a trade later if they want to. you know, like there’s just not a lot of big free agency movement in general. Uh you can see guys like Josh Giddy who’s played a lot more than Jonathan Kaminga in the same exact position that Kaminga is in in a lot of ways, right? But the ultimate controllable here was Steve Kerr making a sincere effort to find ways to utilize the skills that the guy does have and to find ways to get him on the floor meaningfully to get a better idea of what he can be. Now listen, if he had gotten every single Anthony Lamb minute and every single I don’t know, it’s hard to even remember all the goofy doofuses that Steve Kurs played ahead of him. Ge Santos, whatever it is. And and this is nothing against those guys, honestly. G Santos, you love him, but he’s a hustle guy, but like come on. I I get he does some things Jonathan Kaminga doesn’t. I get there are situations where you’d rather have him on the floor for rebounding or whatever, but like it has always been absurd to me that there is no avenue to find a way to make Jonathan Kaminga work alongside the best players on this team. And I don’t believe that has ever been a project that was undertaken sincerely in good faith for an extended period of time. Almost every other player Kaminga’s age has had that opportunity. And part of that is because they were on worse teams. But again, you can’t use that excuse when Anthony Lamb played a season’s worth of near starting minutes, right? Like we can’t do that. We can’t go back and rewrite it. And for better or worse, whether we had the answer that Kaminga was just never going to be a guy that could do anything the Warriors need with this team, or whether we had the answer that he could help, or whether we had the answer that he could go score somewhere else, an answer about what this guy would be capable of with a significant continuous run of minutes and faith from a coaching staff. Nobody knows. And that makes this situation that the Warriors are in more complicated than it would otherwise be. So to me, that is the thing that created the scenario we’re in. And look, right now, could you argue Kaminga is overvaluing himself? Yeah. But I think if you look at his career and his situation, you understand why he values himself the way he does. By the same token, could you say the Warriors are asking too much? Yes. Yeah, I guess you could. But the bigger criticism there to me then is if this is what you think this guy is worth, how come you couldn’t convince your coach to even play him? He was getting DNPs in the most important moments of the season. And I just don’t believe that there’s no situation where he could have been effective on the floor with Stephen Curry. Come on, man. Steve Curry made most spates work. Most baits played no defense. He also didn’t take it to the rim. He exclusively took what would generally be considered bad jump shots. Now, he was good at it. I love most baits. But the point is, Steve Kerr has made dramatic efforts in almost every case to find ways to make guys useful with the skills they have. And he never did that for Jonathan Kaminga. And I understand he wants the guy to be Shawn Marion, but at some point the job of a coach is to take the players he has and coach them into the best team they can be. And I don’t believe he did that with Jonathan Kinga. Okay. So Kolski’s argument that the dilemma surrounding Kaminga involves the coach not giving the player the burn to figure out what he was. My argument coming up on locked on Warriors is why is Jonathan Kaminga still on the team? That is the biggest issue when it comes to the Jonathan Kaminga predicament that we are in. I’ll explain. Stick around. That’s coming up on Locked on Warriors. And most importantly, he a dog. We need more dogs. Sports are in full swing. And whether you’re about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or highstakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game more exciting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are wasting away on the beach. I’ve been using FanDuel to track my favorite matchups, and the app keeps it fresh with new daily promotions. They got fun ways to bet. It’s easy to use. It’s fast to pay out. Makes even regular season games feel like the game for all the marbles. Whether you’re placing a same game parlay, watching a bet right into the ninth inning, FanDuel makes it feel like you are a part of the action. If you’re new to FanDuel, you could get 150 in bonus bets just by betting $5 and winning that first bet. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.com to get started. My argument on the Kaminga predicament we are in right now stems on him just being on the team. Give me a minute. I’m going to get on my soap box. Kolski, you sit back. You eat some of your pudding. Kolski’s eating some pudding because he had some uh oral surgery. O yeah, man. They cut my mouth up. Um so yeah, I’m on a I’m on a soft diet, which is not great. I You never feel full when all you can eat is soup and put it. No, I I asked him. I said, “Is that cottage cheese?” And he said, “Oh, absolutely not.” I said, “Cott cheese is one of those things you hate it or you love it.” There’s no I kind of like cottage cheese. You either don’t want to look at it or you eat it every single day. Anyways, enough about cottage cheese. This is locked on Warriors. floor is yours, sir. One thing that I see a lot on these comments on the internet as a whole is that Steve Kerr never gave Jonathan Kame an opportunity. And I want to hit this from every angle and kind of rebuke this. If we’re talking this past year, he actually was getting a ton of run prior to the ankle injury. I’m talking December games. He was playing 30 minutes plus consistently. He was logging 36 quite a bit. He gets hurt. The Warriors were ready to legit move on. I mean, they wanted Kevin Durant. He was involved in the Kevin Durant deal. So, their plan was to get rid of Kaminga. That backfires. He’s still on the team. They instead get Jimmy Butler, a player that is in the same position. And from there, yes, he was not given a featured role. That is a very fair argument this past season. The counterargument is they ready to move on from for Kevin Durant. Let’s go back to 23. There’s also the scapegoating that uh Kolski is talking about where Tai Jerome and Anthony Lamb were the guys that are affecting Kaminga’s development to some degree, but really it was the return of Andrew Wiggins. JK was playing great ball. He was shooting well. He was getting 25 to 30 minutes a night. Truly making the most of his opportunity. Then Wiggins returns. He’s inserted right into the starting lineup. Kaminga only plays more than 10 minutes once in that 13game playoff run against Sacramento and against the Lakers. And okay, the rotation shrinks. He’s still 20 years of age. Next year is the year, right? And there’s this notion that in 23 24 he was jerked around the box scores. I mean, whether you want to believe box scores or not, I’m always a box scores when it comes to minutes don’t lie kind of guy. He was oftentimes playing 35 plus minutes a game post Draymond Green suspension. He averaged 30 minutes per game in 31 games through January, February, and March. The box score also indicates he played well. His scoring and rebounding numbers were great. The shooting percentage was phenomenal. I will not sit here and deny that. But here’s the thing. Saying JK hasn’t been given an opportunity is an incredibly flawed argument in my opinion. I I just ran through the numbers. It’s flatout wrong. At the same time, to say JK hasn’t made the most of the opportunities when he gets them is also flawed. This to me comes down to a player that does not fit Steve Kerr’s puzzle per Steve Kerr. Whether you believe that or not, that’s on you to decide. But per the head coach who’s the main decision maker when it comes to on the court personnel, he believes that JK doesn’t fit the puzzle. So that’s the lone issue to me. Why the f is he still on the team? That’s the only question we should be asking. when Wiggins took his spot for the playoff rotation, why wasn’t your main decision that off season how to unload P and Kaminga in the same deal to, you know, bring someone in that was more ready to go that that fit the timeline that was a a different number in terms of getting off Pool’s contract and and getting off a player that clearly wasn’t getting along with Draymond Green. That to me is failure on the front office to get to this point and it is time to figure something out. I will give you the floor to respond however you like. Um, okay. So, a couple things. One is you’re absolutely right, but I would argue that what you just described is getting jerked around. You know, every moment like here’s the problem with saying, well, you know, Andrew Wiggins came back. Well, you know, Jimmy Butler came in and they play the same position. Like, what are you going to do? Well, just as an example, okay, because I don’t I it’s hard for me to aggregate this sort of information um you know, at this speed. Um the the Warriors here, I got the wrong team. Uh the Warriors game against the Spurs that they lost. Okay. Um down the stretch. Mhm. Uh Jonathan Kaminga played 18 minutes, five of 10 from the field, three rebounds, 12 points. Um was a minus two. Cavan Looney played 12 minutes in that game with a stat line mostly of zeros. G Santos played eight minutes that game was 0 for two. Uh Moses Moody and Brandon Pajki both played over 30 and shot a combined six for 22. Um, and that was actually a game where he played Kaminga because, you know, they were I I don’t know what what it was why you played him that game and not others down the stretch because again, we don’t understand what he’s doing with Jonathan Kinga, but other games down the stretch when Kaminga wasn’t playing and in the playoffs when Kaminga wasn’t playing featured 15 minutes of Ge Santos, you know, like, yes, Jimmy Butler changed the team, but you had a guy and this whole notion is, oh, well, he had an ankle injury and like after that we couldn’t just work him back into the new team we had. You mean the guy scoring 20 a game efficiently right before this injury by the time they get back is unplayable. It doesn’t track. And and it was the same it’s the same thing with Wiggins. Like I could go back and I I’m sure we could go into all those games after Wiggins came back when Kaminga had been playing great, shooting 50% from the field, 20 points a game. And and I think if you watch him like look, his rebounding numbers leave something to be desired. His team defensive ability leaves something to be desired. But if you watch him on the floor, it’s not like a Jordan Pool situation or a D’Angelo Russell situation where he doesn’t care. It’s not or again like a Maurice Space who played important championship minutes for this team. It’s it’s not that. It’s that he still hasn’t played like 50 games in a row of 25 minutes plus. And the things like knowing where to be on team defense, things like getting better if you’re not a natural super rebounder like a Brandon Pajki or whoever, you get better at these things by getting comfortable. And I think almost anyone who watched could could honestly tell you that like over the course of his four-year career, because of how quickly he’s been yanked after small mistakes, because of his general lack of consistent rotation minutes, too often he looks tentative and that contributes to his problems. It doesn’t help solve them. So again, like I have just never at any point understood or been on board with the development of this kid. That doesn’t mean I think he is a shorefire superstar. It doesn’t even mean I think he’s a surefire all-star. What it means is I think he’s a super talent that the Warriors have put themselves in a bad position with by their own mistakes. specifically the mistakes of not making small sacrifices as far as like sure maybe Anthony Lamb you had to correct him less on defensive rotations. All right and and they made that choice at the great cost of this situation that we’re in right now. And here’s the thing. I was saying this part of it then. Back then, I was saying, you’re going to get to the point where you don’t know what this kid is and he wants to be something and you’re going to be stuck. And now that’s where they are. And it has kept them from doing literally anything this off season. Now, look, they may have deals in place with Seth and Horford and Melton, and that’s not a terrible off season if they make it happen, but it’s not a great off season if they make it happen at the cost of Kaminga being gone for nothing, or Kaminga being here, but then dnping again and being miserable or whatever weird situation. And god forbid he take that qualifying offer where sure you only have to pay him 8 million this year but then he’s gone for nothing and you can’t trade him. It’s he has a no trade clause if he’s on the qualifying offer. So they’re really this idea that he doesn’t have leverage that is wrong. Jonathan Kaminga has lots of leverage. You can tell just by the fact the Warriors are waiting on him to make their other signing. Let me let me jump in here because he does. My argument though is the leverage that he has is leverage is screwing the Warriors. Not necessarily leverage that’s going to help his career, right? Because if he takes the qualifying offer, Golden State controls the king keys to the kingdom. Sure, they need him during the regular season, but when it comes down to it, they can do exactly what they did a season ago. Give them DMPS in the playoffs. Give them DMPS whenever they want. He can’t make that decision. And then what’s his value going into unrestricted free agency? So that’s fair. his his his main one of his main pieces of leverage may well be uh mutually assured destruction, but the Warriors don’t want that. No, I would argue this year is much more valuable to a Warriors franchise trying to get something out of the last few years of their greatest team of all time than it is to Jonathan Kaminga at 22 years old. And like one more year of the weird because listen, look at the team. They’re going to need him if he’s on the team. Steve Kerr is not going to be able to DNP him in the middle of the season when Steph needs a night off and Jimmy’s back hurts. Like, they’re going to need him and he’s going to go into the season thinking it’s my job that in those moments to show people who I am and that Steve Kerr is the one making the mistake or whoever, right? And that’ll be his mindset. I It’s not great, but the notion that like, you know, he’s demanding to be a first stop, like he’s being unrealistic. he’s demanding to be a first option and he wants all this money like he’s just screwing himself. I don’t buy that because there’s always going to be someone to take a chance on a guy like that and this was a really weird offseason moneywise. I do think somebody would pay him 25ish million a year over an extended period. You know, barring some major change in what’s happening here. Um, it’s just a question of how to make the finances work and how to make it work for from the Warriors perspective to give them something of value. Because whether you think Kaminga is insane to value himself as a potential, you know, 20 point scorer, he undeniably has some value. And to lose him for nothing or for, you know, a second round pick and a a ninth man veteran, that’s clearly losing value. You know, you’re clearly getting the worst value of that. And again, that’s a situation that this Warriors coaching staff and front office. And look, that may be the real issue, whether it’s Joe Lacob or Mike Dunlevy. It’s not just that Steve Kerr values Jonathan Kaminga differently from me. Clearly he values him differently than the front office than Joe. Well, Mike tried to trade him for had to trade for Kevin Durant and for Paul George. Yeah, but those guys I mean look, we had we know what we know now about Paul George and and I think you’re glad you didn’t do that. But like at the time you’re trying to make those deals, those are elite proven players and you understand trading a young unproven talent for those guys, right? That’s not the same as trading him for Devin Carter in a second round pick. No. you know, so I I don’t I I think if Mike Dunlevy’s value is a good young player, maybe not with the same high ceiling and a and a firstrounder, then he certainly doesn’t see Kaminga as a guy that should have been dnping down the stretch of the season last year, right? So that is a difference of opinion between the front office and maybe it is Lakup, who knows? But I tend to think that as loud as Joe Leica is, he lets his guys do their jobs. And Steve Cerr and the coaches and you know to hear it reported, it’s not all the coaches. Like there are people on that coaching staff who believe JK should play more. I don’t know who they are, but that’s been reported pretty consistently. There is a divide inside the building on what what the best path forward with this guy is. And that actually is probably the biggest problem of all. Yeah. And there’s a couple ways that this can be resolved. Qualifying offer would be a disaster. Um, are you muted or am I You’re good. Disconnected somehow. Yeah. No, you’re good. I hear you loud and clear. Yeah. Um, qualifying offer would obviously be a disaster if he took that. um trying to play him into the rotation last year or next year to me seems like it’s too far gone to realistically do that at this point. So it becomes like the the staring match with Kamingo and frankly with other teams to see whether the Warriors can up the ante and maybe get someone a little more valuable than Grayson Allen. But that’s a name that’s been brought up. We’ve talked all about the Kings offer, the poo poo platter that they’ve offered the Warriors of Sarich with a side of Carter and then a first round pick, which is enticing. A protected first round pick. The Suns offer no picks. They offer a package featuring a pretty expensive player in Grayson Allen, but a very good shooter. We’re going to talk about this, whether it makes any sense. That’s coming up on Lockdown Warriors. So, we spent a lot of time on the deal that the Kings have offered per Shams, and we also know that the Phoenix Suns have a concrete offer on the table to the Warriors. Somehow, after all the trades the Suns made, they actually don’t have any trade capital to throw Golden State. So, forget about draft picks. It’s just players. Nick Richards has been a name attached. Royce O’Neal’s been a name attached. And the one that uh is the most likely scenario would be Grayson Allen as a centerpiece. So Kaminga was included in the deal to bring Kevin Durant to the Bay Area from Phoenix. And just five months later, it’s Grayson Allen who would be the return player. Not Durant, but uh the former Duke Grayson Allen, who you would think if if Dunley was all about Grayson and thought he was a fit, then he’d be making it happen because of the brotherhood and everything. But let’s kind of break down Grayson Allen real quick. One of the top three-point shooters in the league, but usually known for his work in the pick and roll. That was Dennis Shruder’s calling. We saw how that worked out with the Warriors. Not a huge pick and roll team. Fit can be everything. That’s for Mike Dunlvy to determine how he would fit into the rotation, but player-wise, high energy, hustle. You pair him with Draymond Green and you have two of the most hated players in the league that are kicking everyone and tripping. That that’s what Grayson Allen’s done for a long time. But he’s disruptive energy. 42% from three last season. You want a spacer. He does help in that regard. Compared to Kaminga shot at 46% from three in 2024 on volume. He had wild splits of 50% from the floor, 40% from three, and 88% from the line in 2324. His best season in the NBA where he averaged 13 points a game. But he lacks athleticism. Can be a liability on defense. Not a huge player by any means, although he has put on some beef. He’s been drinking his myoplex. But Draymond Jimmy and you’re adding in Horford, maybe you can make up for the defensive liabilities. Makes 17 million per year. So by my math, unless Kaminga is making, you know, 34 in this signing trade, which he’s not going to, you’d likely have to throw in another player to make the money work. He also has a player option that would keep him in the Bay Area through 2028 if he wants, which is not the timeline that the Warriors are on currently. And that’s a decent chunk of money, $17 million. Do you want anything to do with this deal or would you rather call up Sacramento and say we’ll take the poo poo platter in the first? I want to Do you believe in the basketball gods, Chuck? Uh, I believe that the basketball gods, when called upon, sometimes deliver, not always. I would rather vomit on myself and have Kaminga sign the qualifying offer than have anything to do with Grayson Allen. There are certain players that you want nothing to do with. Dylan Brooks is one of those guys that you think’s a bum, like Klay Thompson did. And I would argue that that Dylan Brooks is is is solid, right? If Dylan Brooks is a bum, Grayson Allen is the dirt that the bum is walking on. I can’t with Grayson Allen. He shouldn’t be in the league is my actual opinion on Yes, because people who consistently make dangerous plays and try to hurt people should not be playing professional basketball. Like, yeah, that’s a hard no for me. I I I would rather do it straight up for Nick Richards. The counter argument is Draymond over your shoulder. He’s I love Draymond pretty dirty. No, there’s a difference. There’s a difference. And anyone who doesn’t see the difference between Draymond dirty and Grayson Allen dirty, I I don’t know how to explain it to you, but explain the dirty and it’s gone on for a while. Like he was known violent way. It’s it’s violent and it has nothing to do with basketball. Like I understand people have this thing about Draymond Green stomped on Sabonis and like yeah I guess if you slow it down he kind of did but what he really did was like go overboard trying to kick someone off his foot. Now was that a dirty play in basketball? Yes. Did he deserve to be penalized for that? Yes. But it’s not the same as routinely doing things to knock people out of the air. Routinely going for trips and and stomps and just with no other purpose attached to them other than to try to hurt somebody. And it’s something he’s been doing since college and he has never stopped. And on top of all that, I hate his face. So, uh, maybe this is a hot take. Maybe he does look like Ted Cruz. I never thought of that before. He does. Uh, yeah. Listen, man. I just I believe with all my heart that you will not win with a player like that. Period. Full stop. Because I do believe in the basketball gods. And I do not believe Grayson Allen will ever win a title. So that’s that’s actually where I stand on that. Royce O’Neal and Nick Richards both fall into the category of like nice player would look good in a Warriors uniform. I can see why they’d want him as the sole return for Jonathan Kaminga. It’s pretty disappointing, right? But what regardless of what happens in this situation, it’s going to be disappointing unless unless this media circus is somewhat overhyped. The quotes have been taken out of context because Kaminga himself has not gone on Instagram live and said anything personally to the to the That’s the other thing, man. I think that that’s the thing that drives me nuts about this is that there’s this presumption of Kaminga as somehow precipitating this or being difficult or it, you know, it’s on him because he doesn’t try hard enough for rebounds. And again, like I get it, his rebounding leaves something to be desired for a guy with that athleticism, but like he’s not he’s far from the only 6’9 super athlete that doesn’t rebound great. You know what I mean? And it’s being attached to him like he’s done bad. I would say he processes the game slow though and Steve Curry loves the fast decision makers. Yeah, but you know what? There there quite frankly are not enough, you know, 02 second decision-making processors in the league to get them to have the entire team be made up of those guys. And again, Leandro Barbosa and Maurice Spates were not the fastest processing guys when it came to defense and moving the basketball, right? Like, are you telling me Andrew Wiggins is the fastest processing guy in the world? I I don’t think so. That was one of the great criticisms of him coming into his Warriors career, but Steve Kerr made it work. All the criticism, many at least, of the criticisms regarding Kaminga are valid, but they do not actually explain what has happened. Um, but that wasn’t the point that we were making, I don’t think, going into this. In any event, none of the names that we’re talking about now are good. You’re right. They’re not going to satisfy you if you think Kaminga has value. So, here I think is by far the best remaining option that seems to be available to the Warriors. It is finding a number and maybe Kaminga has to come down on his demands. Maybe the Warriors have to move up a little. Maybe both. finding a number where Kaminga is satisfied signing a month a year, three, four year contract at say 23 million a year, right? What what the Warriors it seems like are putting something like 20 on there. Kaminga wants high 20s, I don’t know, whatever. 25 million a year, let’s say, for a nice round number. the Warriors pony up and then in January when that contract becomes eligible to trade at full value, you have gotten plenty of regular season minutes for Jonathan Kaminga to show off what he’s capable of. He continues to play well with opportunity and you find a deal for him between January 15th and whenever the deadline is in February. Off the top of your head, scenario, off the top of your head, can you point to a situation in the past, whether it’s 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, where a team’s gone into a season with that strategy of basically saying like, “We’re going to trade you. You’re not going to be here long term, bud.” Um, but we’re still Russell and the Golden State Warriors. Okay. Boom. Now, it’s not identical for obvious reasons, right? They traded for DLO, but that was the entire point. If you remember the conversation around that, right, was like, does D’Angelo Russell fit with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson? That’s a little weird. And Clay’s out for the year. Is Steph and DLO gonna be the back court? I don’t know. And guess what? It sucked. Movable assets. Movable asset. Even though he was D’Angelo Russell and uh I think people kind of knew what he was and weren’t that excited about it. uh he was really good friends with Carl Anthony Towns and that turned into Andrew Wiggins who was not as sparkly perhaps in some ways at that time and Jonathan Kaminga right was the Kaminga pic part of that deal too it might have been or the Moody one of the two yeah so you know it’s not a perfect analog but like he has more value than we’re seeing now and and we’ve talked about the base year compensation and that’s a big part of it. But like I do think it would be kind of stupid frankly to trade Jonathan Kaminga for Royce O’Neal. As much as Royce O’Neal would make a nice, you know, 3 and D wing. He’s an old player with a low ceiling and like he is what he is and it’s fine. Kolski’s living on the edge. He says Kaminga is not signing the qualifying offer. He’s living on the edge. Good stuff. Well, you can’t let him sign the qualifying offer because if he is on this team making $8 million and miserable and then they’re dnping him, it’s going to be a whole thing and it has the opportunity to make a mess of the season. Um, you just Yeah, exactly. The Warriors the the Warriors must if he is even considering for real signing that qualifying offer, they must pony up and pay him for a multi multi-year like maybe not whatever he wants, but they got to get it done. And they cannot have him stuck on the team for a year making, you know, a third of what he hopes to make. Matt Kowolski, the soothing sounds. You have a great one. We’ll talk. Very soothing. Lockdown warriors. Check us out on YouTube wherever you get your audio podcast. Appreciate it, everyone. Peace. Namaste everyone. Namaste. Namaste. of asya.

The Golden State Warriors have yet to do anything this offseason, due to the holdup in the restricted free agency of Jonathan Kuminga. What is the biggest issue in this entire saga? How can either side get through this not disappointed? Plus, should the Phoenix Suns’ Grayson Allen offer entice the Warriors at all? Chuck Walter and Matt Kolsky debate all of this on today’s Locked On Warriors.

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FanDuel
Right now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

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