Anthony Slater, ESPN – Kings And Jonathan Kuminga Have Had Contact

Anthony Slater, ESPN – Kings And Jonathan Kuminga Have Had Contact

What the heck’s going on with Jonathan Kamingo? Anthony Slater, ESPN’s Anthony Slater, uh, joining us now, uh, on the Elro Kid talk line. Anthony, how’s it going, man? What’s up? How are y’all? Um, hanging in there. What’s going on? Trying to figure out what the hell is happening with with Jonathan Kaminga because it feels like uh from the Golden State side, we’ve seen the same reporting uh once a day. It’s just a daily thing where okay, it’s the Anthony Melton, it’s Al Horford, now we’re hearing Seth Curry, and they’re waiting for this Jonathan Kaminga thing to play out. Are the Warriors motivated to try and either sign or move Jonathan Kaminga, maybe more than they were a couple of weeks ago? Motivated to sign him, uh, you know, they tried to sign him. Uh, you know, I mean, they they had an offer out to him uh this week and I would say there was the most movement I felt from them this week. and Jonathan Kaminga at this point as me and Sham’s reported yesterday has just decided not to do it at this point. He’s not in any type of rush to, you know, accept the offer currently on the table from the Warriors. And clearly at this point, the Warriors plan as of yesterday was to have Kaminga back on the roster, which in my opinion has been kind of their plan the entire time considering uh the dynamics at play, the sign and trade offers that are and aren’t on the table. And um I still think that that is again like in in you know a relative likelihood be considering the Warriors standing and in and the restricted market and everything at play. But Jonathan Kaminga has to accept an offer at some point and at this point he is not ready to. You know when you you talk about the Warriors put out an offer do you have any idea what the parameters of that deal would be? Uh yeah but I’m not going to get too into that right now. Uh, so, so when you say when you say motivated to sign him, did does that let me Does that mean that was the first like legitimate offer they they’d made him? I will I mean I would probably let’s let’s retrace uh back to the finals and you’ll probably think that’s a wild place for me to go back to, but let’s start with the finals. The moment after the finals, you can start uh you know negotiating with your own free agents, right? You know, you saw some deals in the leadup to free agent. You you guys can probably remember Harrison Barnes signing prior to free agency back with the Kings, right? Um so they could have at that moment started to get offers after Jonathan Kamega and trying to solve the restriction free agency all the way back then. But they neither side really, you know, talked firm contract offers in the leadup to free agency when they could have or in the early days of free agency because it was very clear Jonathan Kamingo wanted to explore uh his outside market and the Warriors were willing to let him go try to find signing trades and were certainly, you know, voicing that you go try to find sign and trade offers that work for you from a contract standpoint, but also is unless you’re signing an offer sheet and there wasn’t many teams out there able to do that. you need to go get a suitor who’s also willing to give an appealing enough trade package that we would accept that. So, three sides have to agree here, right? You know, a Kings, for example, have to want Kaminga and give him a contract. Kaminga has to like that contract from a team like the Kings and then the Warriors have to accept what the Kings are willing uh to offer. And uh that never really materialized over, you know, x amount of days. I think the Warriors never really necessarily thought that was going to materialize and then now have come back to Jonathan Kamingo with what they thought as we reported was, you know, a fair market offer considering what else is out there. And Jonathan Kaminga said for now, no thanks. I’m going to keep exploring my options. Yeah, it’s all interesting the way that that this is playing out. And I know restricted free agency has been just an absolute nightmare this year for specifically for the players. Um, but the other element there that that you left out, it’s not just everyone has to accept the deal, but then the Kings have to find a way for someone else to take some of these players in order to uh bring in a player like Kaminga and fit him under the cap because of the base year compensation. So, this is such a complex trade if it were to happen. Uh, what do you think the likelihood now like if you’re reading tea leaves is that he’s back with the Warriors or that he finds a new team? Yeah, you know, I think the qualifying offer is a a real possibility later in the summer. I think, you know, the Warriors may be up in their offer or or, you know, eventually the stand still ending and him ending back on the Warriors remains a real likelihood. But, um, you know, they again, like at some point, do the Warriors decide they’ll take, you know, a lesser type of signing trade offer? Do they lower their asking price? Do other teams come in and up their own asking price? Um, I think there’s a lot still to play out and I think, you know, while these restrictive free agents do not have a ton of leverage in these scenarios, like time is leverage, you know, and I think Kaminga is kind of using that right now, it’s why we’re sitting here in July, whatever it is today, 25th. Um, and with no real answers, no no firm movement. Uh, because I just think time helps him a little bit. Um, and I I feel like I’m about to fire up the Sacramento aggregation machines here, but like for for example, uh, Kaminga, you know, had contact with the Kings in the last couple days, and it’s the first time he’s met Scott Perry. And this wasn’t in person, but it’s the first time he’s communicated with Scott Perry, Doug Christie, and BJ Armstrong. And, you know, from what I gather, he liked, you know, the pitch that Scott Perry gave, and, you know, he’s uh, open-minded to the idea of Sacramento. Uh, and I think part of that, I know part of that is because part of that pitch is, you know, you’re talking starting role, you’re talking bigger opportunity than the Warriors are necessarily offering right now. And I think that’s the part that that shouldn’t get lost in this whole situation is Jonathan is not just looking for the exact contract he wants in and for agency. He’s looking for the opportunity he wants on the court. Anthony Slater, ESPN talking Jonathan Kaminga and kind of the latest with with this. Do you do you anticipate is how how do I want to when we talk about this lasting into August and maybe even into September, is that Jonathan Gaminga just kind of knowing he has time and and trying to wait this out or is there some kind of like trying to stick it to Golden State a little bit like no, I know I can kind of screw you over by doing this and so we might see this drag on because of that. I think he’s in no mood to do favors to the Warriors and you know like acquies to the idea that they want to wrap up business quick. He for the first time in his career has a small level of agency over his career. Um it’s restrictive free agency. we see how like you know nonp powerful that is in many ways but like no he’s he he if there is still you know weeks and months to to try to find the exact opportunity that he thinks is best for him basketball and financially um you know there’s there to him it would be no reason for him to not take the time I don’t think it’s you know I don’t think priority one is sticking it to the Warriors but priority one is certainly not you know like I said helping the Warriors wrap about business as quick as possible because he feels some level of loyalty or love to them. Sure. You know what, Slater? I I want to ask you this. What is it going to take for the Kings if they were to come up with a deal with Kaminga’s side, but what are they going to have to give up? Because we’ve already heard, you know, that uh you know that Dario Sarich, Devin Carter, uh maybe a protected first or a couple of seconds. Um that’s probably not getting it done. What do you think would be something that gets it done? Well, I’ll say this. First round picks are very much, you know, interesting to the Warriors because you even if they can’t get, you know, the players they would exactly want in a sign a trade scenario with Kaminga now, you know, picks can then be rerouted, right, later for for players that that help the core. And that is still their priority is to, you know, either get Kaminga back to help this Steph Curry team next year or, you know, use him to get players who can really help them contend. Um, and uh, you know, of the two most concrete teams that are in the mix, and there’s others that maybe could join, but it we we’ve reported it’s Kings and Suns. The Suns do not have a tradeable first, which is a big problem for them in this conversation. The Kings do have tradable first, and they have appealing first because they’re Sacramento Kings first round picks. Uh, they also have, what is it, uh, 2032 Minnesota, 2031, and they have the they sell partial of the 2017 2027 sports pick. Yeah, that’s a much fuller cupboard in this conversation than Phoenix has. Yeah. Um and you know, they have a Keon Ellis, they have a Keegan Murray. I’m not at all saying that they’re going to put those type of guys on the table, but I’m just saying like when we talk about Fuller Cubards, um the Kings do in this scenario. I again, the offer you mentioned, the the the names that have been thrown about that is not going to appeal enough for the Warriors to to, you know, shake any level of movement. But if if there is maybe a frustration level that deepens into the summer and if there’s maybe more appealing unprotected type first on the table, if a Keon Ellis potentially is, I don’t know, maybe the conversation does change. Uh, last thing for you, Anthony, you’ve been super generous with your time. We appreciate you. Um, how do you think this ends? And has that answer changed at all over the last couple of weeks? Um, no. Oh, I would still say I do think Jonathan Kaminga plays for the Warriors to start next season. Um because they are, you know, they kind of just all the stuff we mentioned. I mean, I think everybody kind of understands just just the the team control leverage and the difficulties in um you know, making a trade happen now compared to January. But, you know, unless they are going to really kind of go to a place with their contract offer that’s that’s more appealing to Kaminga, I do think it it drags into like August September range and uh he potentially, like I said, is back on a $7.9 million qualifying offer, which would just create probably an uncomfortable camp and, you know, drama filled. part of the appeal, which you guys understand on the qualifying offer. While it’s well, it’s significantly less money than he’s even being offered at this point right now, it comes with an inherent no trade clause, so you control your immediate future. Um, where you can kind of direct yourself where you want to go. Uh, and also you become an unrestricted free agent next summer when there is theoretically more cap space and more people willing to come after you. If Jonathan Kaminga is audacious enough to go down that road and reject more guaranteed money and immediate money, uh, that gives him, you know, a lot more control over his future. I’m not saying I’d necessarily advise it, but I think that’s on the table. Anthony Slater, ESPN does a great job covering the Warriors in the NBA for uh for them. Uh, you said August or September. We look forward to having this exact conversation with you again in a few weeks. Yeah, I mean it’s the the the team I most primarily cover has made zero moves and it’s July 25th. So, here we go. I’m I’m I might not get a summer job’s already in the middle of free agency. You’ve made more moves than Golden State as Anthony. Thank you so much, man. We’ll we’ll talk to you soon. All right, fell. Later, bro. Entry.

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