WARRIORS WANT JONATHAN KUMINGA BACK AND HAVE MUTUAL INTEREST WITH SETH CURRY!

WARRIORS WANT JONATHAN KUMINGA BACK AND HAVE MUTUAL INTEREST WITH SETH CURRY!

Coming up on this episode, all the latest on Jonathan Kaminga, my thoughts and where the situation stands after some major reports from ESPN on Thursday. Welcome back to the Golden State with Mates podcast. Hope you’re all having a good week as we continue to wait for the Golden State Warriors to do something here in free agency. Nearly a month through, well over 3 weeks since uh the period opened, but we did get some big updates earlier today on Jonathan Kaminga from ESPN’s Sham Shirania and his new colleague as well, Anthony Slater. It’s wild to me. I’ve been writing some articles this morning and even just saying ESPN’s Anthony Slater feels weird to me. Like I’ve spent so long always writing or talking about Anthony Slater of the Athletic, Anthony Slater of the Athletic. like been doing that now for for quite some time and now to have to change that to Anthony Slater of ESPN. It feels a bit weird. Um, but congratulations to Slater on his new role. No doubt about that. So, we had both of those guys on NBA today, but I thought I’d just go through the article that Slater actually uh has wrote here in the last and had published here on ESPN in the last couple hours. So, I thought I’d go through the article, just read it a little bit, uh, and also just give my thoughts and takeaways on what is going on here with this Kaminga situation. So, let’s jump straight into it. Uh, first paragraph, restricted free agent Jonathan Kaminga is in no rush to sign the latest contract offers from the Golden State Warriors. He told ESPN after a Thursday morning workout in Miami. and Kaminga’s stalemate with the Warriors has the potential to drag significantly deeper into the offseason and as he continues to explore other opportunities. Now, the first most well first uh big piece of information here says general manager Mike Dun leaving the Warriors front office showed an extra level of motivation this week in conversations with Kaminga’s agent Aaron Turner delivering what they believe is a fair offer to bring Kaminga back for a fifth season despite the rocky four-year partnership that preceded it. But Kaminga hasn’t found anything they presented appealing, he said. So the drawn out uh negotiations will remain motionless, likely keeping the Warriors other offseason business on pause. They are the only NBA team not to sign or trade for a player this summer. Also goes on to say that the Warriors didn’t swap contract numbers in the leadup to FAI, which is a little bit surprising. uh and that uh Turner Kaminga’s agent has been spending much of July searching for sign and trade opportunities, getting the most tangible bites from the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings. So, this is basically telling me, and just to finish off uh another paragraph further down here, they were optimistic about their most recent pitch, but Kaminga didn’t take it. His side will continue scouring the league for signing trade opportunities in hopes that Kaminga uh in hopes that something eventually pops. They also have Golden State’s qualifying offer as an option. I’ll get into the qualifying offer in a second. The biggest takeaway I’ve got right now from everything we’ve heard so far on Thursday is that the Warriors want to keep Jonathan Kaminga. I think that’s and and I think that has been speculated uh for for quite some time, but we’ve also had this idea of oh well if they get something of value back then they’re going to be happy taking it which they are clearly like I think they’re open to sign and trade offers but they’re clearly valuing JK to a point where it’s going to have to be something pretty significant and I think the fact again that they have shown a concerted effort and that they were optimistic about their most recent pitches and contract offers this week. Like that tells you I think they’ve got to a point where it’s like, hey, we’re clearly not going to get anything of substantial value back. So ultimately, we want to keep this guy now. There’s still a chance that we bring him back and then we trade him mid-season, but then that’s on our terms, right? That’s that’s going to be us exploring those options rather than really Kaminga and his camp being the ones that are exploring options right now. So clearly the Warriors have the plan to bring Jonathan Kaminga back. And as we get into other fragi options here, I think who you’ve seen the Warriors link to and who we’ve heard the Warriors link to in Fanchi would also suggest that they are building this roster on the presumption that Jonathan Kaminga will be back. How many of the kind of 66 to 69 forwards available left in free agency have the Warriors been linked to? I can’t I can’t name one. Like actually strongly linked to. Now there’s guys like Trey Lyles, Chris Buchet who I and others have speculated as potential options for the Warriors. Has have those guys ever been strongly linked to the Warriors? No. Like has any other like 67 68 forward or athletic type like like Kaminga? Like has anyone else been linked to the Warriors? Not that I can. If I’m wrong, let me know, but I don’t think so. And so you look again at the guys that have been linked to the Warriors, they’re usually guards. And if the Warriors lose Kaminga, then they have a real void in terms of small forward power forward options in the front court. And therefore like I think they are building this roster out in the hope that eventually Kaminga will sign eventually that is the plan that they will bring him back and have next season uh at least start next season with Jonathan Kaminga on the roster. So that’s one of the biggest takeaways here is that the Warriors just want Jonathan Kaminga back and we as fans and you guys as fans like you know you can be frustrated about this whole situation and many people I’m still seeing people on social media like okay just accept the sign tradeoff let’s get on with it like stop mucking around well no like you have that might be your opinion but you have to take into account what the franchise wants and this is a pretty clear indication pretty crystal clear plan in place for the Warriors to bring back Jonathan Kamingo and offer him. It sounds like there’s like their offer is actually pretty decent like based on what you know is going on around the league. And again, this uh sentence here says this has been an ice cold market for restricted free agents because of the lack of cap space around the league. The Warriors anticipated that and believe they’ve offered Kiminga the highest starting salary currently on the table for it. So they are like contract moneywise the Warriors are right there like they are it might not be now there’s a lot of stuff going on yesterday in regards to and and I’ve had arguments with this with people and it’s still a source of speculation I suppose in terms of the 5year $150 million contract the 30 million per year deal that it was speculated and reported it was flat out reported that Kaminga turned that down as an extension last uh off last offseason obviously leading into uh the October deadline uh for restricted well for fourth year picks coming into coming in sorry picks coming into their fourth year uh which Moses Moody obviously got a deal done and uh Kaminga didn’t and we’ve obvious obviously spoken about that a lot and then his agent Aaron Turner uh kind of went on social media yesterday and clarified that hey we never turned out a $30 million per year offer. We’re not that u dumb. Basically, we’re smarter than that. So, that’s interesting. Whether that’s him trying to save face or uh whether that’s actually true or not, I don’t know. Who knows? I suppose we’ll just try and take him at his word. But it is also interesting that that guy hasn’t literally tweeted for like 2 years and he came out like right now during the the uh middle of this free agency negotiation to clarify something on the Kaminga uh side of things. So I thought that was fascinating. But it is like the Warriors want to bring Kaminga back and they believe again that they’ve offered him the highest starting salary currently on the table for him which uh there’s no speculation of what that is. But I think we can, and I’ve spoken about this before, in terms of the money that the Warriors can potentially offer JK while also landing Hawford uh on the mid taxpayer mid level uh and with a few veteran minimum signings as well and and keeping themselves below the second apron. I would therefore assume that the absolute highest the Warriors can go is like 23 24 million per year somewhere. I think 25 probably the absolute high-end max. I would struggle to see them going beyond that. And again, so you might be looking at a you the long uh rumored two plus one contract where it’s you know three year with a third year player option uh and it’s something like 3 years 70 or something something along those lines between 3 years 60 and 75. So uh again that hasn’t been speculated or reported here at all. Um, but if it’s the highest starting salary currently on the table for him and we look at what the Warriors are trying to do here while sticking under the second apron, like it is around that 22 to$25 million mark, I would assume. Uh, the qualifying offer, let’s get into that. So, Kaminga has a standing one-year $7.9 million offer that the Warriors can no longer resend. He has until October 1 to accept it. If he goes that route, Kaminga will be willingly giving up a chunk of immediate money, but returning on an expiring deal with an inherent no trade clause, giving him the highest level of long-term career control he’s ever had. It’s something his side is considering, sources said. So, the first of all, so the Warriors can no longer resend it, which is something we spoke about in terms of well, could they just resend it and try and use the full MLA and and break that up? It’s something we were talking about obviously when Bradley Beal was available. like would you resend the qualifying offer to sign Bradley Bill to the full MLE? He’s obviously gone to the Clippers. Uh and anyway, they can’t do that. So, they can no longer resend it. So, that’s actually somewhat noteworthy. But in terms of the the qualifying offer, and I’ve just wrote an article about this, it would be still I know this says it’s it’s you know that Slater reports you that Kaminga and his camp are considering it, but it would still be totally shocking to me because it is such an enormous risk to take if you’ve got an offer on the table that’s 20 to 25 million per year for let’s say at least 3 years like again two plus one that thirdyear player option. You can lock yourself into that. You know that you would have a guaranteed $60 to $75 million, right? To take that $7.9 million qualifying offer would be such a risk. And to me, I think it’s just a threat. It’s a leverage play from Kaminga and his side to say we’re considering this because they want to try and force Golden State’s hand into saying, “Well, it would be an absolute brutal nightmare situation for us to lose Kaminga for nothing in 12 months, so we better take what we can now, right? And instead of having a disgruntled player who can walk for nothing in in uh in 12 months who has a no trade clause, so we we couldn’t trade him either in that time. So instead of that, we’ll just take what we can get now. Whether it’s, you know, Devin Carter, Dario Surich, and a protected first round pick, or uh whatever the Suns have to offer with Grayson Allen, what whatever it may be, like I think it’s more a threat because it’s also very very risky for Kaminga. Like it’s a threat to the Warriors. It’s risky for them, no doubt. It’s a be a nightmare situation, but it’s also, and I’ve spoken about this before, as difficult as Kaminga could make it for the Warriors next season on the qualifying offer and coming back as a disgruntled player who has indicated that I’m out of here as soon as this one year ends. The Warriors could also say, “Well, we’ll just make it difficult for you.” So, we’ll either, you know, give you a very limited role, 10, 15 minutes per game, and if you’re not impacting, we’ll just remove you from the rotation all together. Even if the Warriors just said, “Just go away. Just we don’t even want you around the team. just go away. How does Kaminga therefore increase his value to a point where he can make up the money that he’s going to lose if he rejects a 20 to $25 million per year offer this off season and takes the qualifying offer? How does he increase his value to go and get that money again next off season as an unrestricted free agent? Like I that’s that’s why it’s an incredibly risky move for him to take. And if I was the Warriors, I’d be I’d be double bluffing him and basically saying, “All right, you want to take the qualifying offer, go for it. We we don’t believe you will.” Like, we think you’re using that as a threat, as a leverage play to get us to try and accept a low ball offer from a team that you want to go to. We don’t want to accept this offer and we also don’t think you’re going to like literally give up the money we are offering here to sign the qualifying offer and take that risk. So to me again that would him signing the qualifying offer would be brutal for both parties and it’s why I just think it would be shocking if he still went if he and his cam went down that path. I just don’t think that is possible. Right. Uh continuing on here. The Warriors, meanwhile, have been very careful not to wrap up any other official personnel uh personnel business until the Kaminga situation is solved, leaving them as much financial and roster flexibility as possible. Considering the unpredictable nature of the situation, which we’ve we’ve spoken about that for ages, they have plotted out some clear plans. The Warriors in search of a veteran stretch shooter at the center position and identified Al Hawford as their top target from the outset of free agency. Horford is still said to be mulling retirement, but the Warriors are believed to be the strong favorite to land in once the dust settles. The Warriors also have mutual interest in DeAnthony Melton and Seth Curry as bench options. Sources said Melton made quite the impression in his six games with the Warriors last season before Terry and ACL. They like him as a backcourt fit next to Steph Curry and have identified Seth Curry, Steph’s Steph’s brother as a needed bench shooter with an obvious family tie. All right. So on just moving away from the Kaminga thing here for a second, the Anthony Melton said, we know the Hford stuff. We know the Melton stuff. Seth Curry, this has been murmured, I suppose, and speculated ever since was it Monty Montyool of NBC Sports Bay Area interviewed Seth and asked him specifically about coming to the Warriors and Seth seemed fairly open to the idea. He certainly didn’t turn it down by any means. So since then like there’s been this idea in the back of the mind more than anything that Seth Curry could be an option for the Warriors. But to me again it’s been in the back of mind more than the forefront of mind because does it actually l like really from an onc court standpoint does it make a whole lot of sense? I would argue no just because of the surplus of guards that the Warriors have. Like if you’re adding Seth Curry and DeAnthony Melton to a roster that already has Steph Curry, Brandon Pajamsky, Buddy Heield, like Moses can still play at the two if need be. You’ve just drafted Will Richard 56 overall. None of these guys aside from Steph point guards, which is why like they’ve also been linked to Malcolm Brogden. Uh Montipy also reported yesterday that there’s a chance that GP2 comes back. Uh and particularly because the Warriors have lost Cavon Looney. uh which I’m not sure why Looney’s free agency and him departing should impact GP2 aside from the fact that okay maybe the Warriors just want another familiar veteran voice in the locker room potentially like aside from that I’m not sure why it should impact but Modipool essentially said that there’s a greater chance now that Looney’s left of of Payton returning bit of a weird one considering they’re different players play different positions one’s a 6ix9ine big man one’s you know I suppose we call GP2 the little big man, but you know with his propensity to hang around the rim and and cut and and finish dunks and layups and whatever else, but like still he’s a 6’2 guard at the end of the day. He’s a perimeter perimeter defender. Again, not sure why the Looney thing plays a role in him aside again from bringing back a familiar face and and veteran voice in the locker room who’s obviously been around there for a while. So suddenly like we’re talking about six, seven guards like again both Curry’s Melton PMsky healed uh Brogden again the links there GP2 Will Richard that’s eight guards that I’ve mentioned now they’re not going to end up with all of those guys but like that’s still way too many regard like even if they have five or six of them that’s probably too many on the roster let alone trying to fit them into the rotation. And so what I’m thinking here is like if they add Seth Curry and Dean Anthony Melton both to minimum contracts, is there like a chance here that they explore the market for Buddy Hill? I think there is. Maybe they think that okay, we can replace like as good as Buddy was in the playoffs, he he had he played big minutes. He had a big role. part of that I I think they probably played him more than they would have ideally liked, but it actually kind of worked for them because he goes off that 33 point huge performance in game seven against uh the Rockets and then game one against the Timberwolves. He was excellent as well. But I think they’d probably look at that and say, “Buddy Healed, as good as he was in those two games, had far too big a role than we would have liked.” Now, if we try and if we bring in Melton and Curry on minimum contracts, can we essentially replace Buddy Heield and have him as basically surplus the requirements? Now, Melton, I think if he can return fully healthy, is just an upgrade on uh Buddy Heal to me because of his ability to impact on both ends of the floor. And if you can get a fully healthy DeAnthony Melton, which again is a big if, but if he can, then suddenly like he’s playing more minutes than he would in the rotation anyway. And then Seth Curry, like his his impact in the league has been diminished over recent years going back like his best year was 202122 I think when he averaged over 33 minutes a game, averaged 15 points, 42.4% three-point shooting, only averaged 15 uh.6 six minutes with the Hornets last season. Again, a pretty mediocre bad team, but he still remains, whatever you want to say about Seth Curry, he’s still a Curry and he’s still one of the best shooters the league’s essentially ever seen. If you look at the just the pure percentages of it, he shot still 45 a league leading 45.6% from three-point range last season. Like again, his role may have diminished over recent years, but his ability to knock down threes hasn’t. like he still can can knock down threes. The defense and other parts of his game um are a bit more of an issue. And I’m sure if he comes to the Warriors, he’s going to be in a more limited uh role capacity. Maybe he’s even going to find himself out of the rotation uh in in particular games depending on the opposition and whatnot and whatnot. But I do wonder like can he give you some of what Buddy Hill provides even perhaps as a shooter? Like Seth Curry might actually be a better shooter than Buddy Hill. In fact, like the percentages would say so now, maybe not on the same volume as what we’ve seen in Buddy Heel and I think Seth Curry’s had his injury issues and and when when you’re considering trading Buddy Heield, like you got to understand like this guy plays like he never misses. He played all 82 games last season and on a veteran old team where guys are going to rest and and guys are going to miss games through injuries. That’s important and that’s a factor to to bring into this. But again, Melton and Seth, do they think that Buddy Hill could be expendable? You could go out in the trademark and see what you could get for him. If you could look at a front court option to solidify your front court, even if you do bring Kaminga back, I think that could be a reasonable option to be honest. And I think it would make some sense. Buddy Hill’s done about $9.2 million uh for for next season. The important thing here is he has 20 million over the two years beyond that, except only 3 million’s guaranteed. So essentially, it’s it’s almost an expiring contract where if you’re the Warriors, you can go out to a rival team and say, “Hey, can we give you buddy healed and draft assets, whatever that may be for such I’m not I don’t even know what player it would be, but like you could basically say to the team, hey, Buddy He has, yes, technically got another three years left on his contract and two beyond next season, but only three of that three million of that’s guaranteed.” So, it’s essentially an expiring contract. I don’t know. I I suppose just from a market standpoint, if you’re saying, “Okay, we’re you know, it’s it’s a similar on on a much lower scale, right? But it’s like saying, okay, well, we’re going to trade, you know, for the Clippers, you’re trading Norman Power for John Collins and signing Bradley Beal or it’s like for the Warriors, can you trade Buddy Heield for a front court option and sign the Anthony Melton and Seth Curry?” Right? Like this is just the the the marketplace and I think that would make some sense here. So that’s a watch to me is if the Warriors sign both of those guys and they either sign Brogden or bring back GP2, it’s like there’s way too many guards. There’s way too many guards and obviously they would have to have some sort of Kaminga insurance in place where it’s like okay if we actually have to move on from Kaminga here if we do have to organize a signing trade how like what are we going to get back here that can somehow replace his athleticism his size and his position essentially as a like a 34, right? Like how do we replace that? Uh, and it would have to like part of the solution would have to come externally. It’s why like you look at the potential tradeoffs as well. It’s like Kaminga for Deon Carter. Deon Carter is a guard. Like why do we want Deon Carter when we could just sign the Anthony Melton and Seth Curry, right? Why do we want Grayson Allen and committing ourselves to three years of Grayson Allen at good money? Like and I I don’t think I don’t think the number in each individual season is bad for Grayson Allen. like I think $16 million a year for next season or whatever. Like that’s not great, but it’s not horrific, but like I don’t think the Warriors want to take on three years of that, right? Like particularly when they’ve got this kind of 2year plan in place here with Steph, Jimmy, and Draymond. So like they just don’t need in any of these trade packages for Kaminga, they don’t I don’t think they want guards. There’s like if we’re replacing Kaminga with someone, it has to kind of be another forward option. which is why like I think Keegan Murray has often been the dream for me that would be ideal but obviously not going to happen. Uh continuing on here uh everything ties back to Kaminga whose deal is the big ticket item at the summer for the Warriors beyond the contract demands. Kaminga is in search of a more guaranteed consistent starting role and featured opportunity. Sources said that’s something the Suns and Kings have pitched. Okay. So, I just wanna I just want to talk about the Kings and Sons here for a second in terms of Kaminga getting a starting role and featured opportunity. So, he could get a starting role, no doubt. But could he actually get more featured opportunity on the Kings and Suns than he could the Warriors? So it also says here Kaminga would be a significant part of the Warriors rotation to open next season and they’d need his supplementary scoring on nights when Steph Curry or Jimmy Butler rest. That’s something coach Steve Kerr has told Kaminga in recent weeks. Curry has been one of the leading voices trying to patch things together which again is an indication like the Warriors want Kaminga back to the point where Steve is trying to convince him. like everyone’s trying to, you know, Steve and and JK, the relationship there has been uh a huge talking point obviously over the course of the last few years. Uh interesting that Slater in when he was on NBA today said it’s actually an improving relationship. Uh and that again as he stated here like Steve has been trying to patch things together to get Kaminga to come back. So that is very notable. But just again to go back to the the Suns and King’s point. So I think Kaminga like Kaminga could be the third score. Like the Warriors need a third scorer. Kaminga could be that, right? And how is he going to get more of an opportunity? So the Suns, yes, I could I could see why he’d get more of an option on the Suns as a a third guy, potentially a second guy. But they also have Devin Booker who’s going to be taking a whole lot of the offense. and they just traded for Jaylen Green who is kind of like a guard version of JK where he’s done more in the league cuz he’s had more opportunity. But I think they’re very similar in terms of they believe their star players who can put up big points and big numbers and Jaylen Green’s done that at times. He’s also been inefficient times. He was awful outside one game in the first round against the Warriors which ultimately you know probably convinced Houston that they were right to move on from him and get KD in return. So, I don’t know. Does Kaminga think he’s going to overtake Jaylen Green as a second option in Phoenix? Maybe. M. Like, maybe. Uh, but otherwise, he’d still be the third, right? And I think Jaylen Green would try and push against that and say, “Hang on, I’m coming in here. I’m the second option.” And Devin Booker, well, you’re just paying him a near $75 million per year extension. He’s obviously going to be your number one guy. Uh, no doubt about that. So if you look at that situation, I could see Kaminga getting slightly more opportunity in Phoenix, but not not a hugely significant more amount that he could get at the Warriors. And then the King situation to me is just absolute mess. Just an absolute mess. And you could say, oh well, they get Kiminga, they’ll make these other moves to to, you know, allow Kaminga to thrive and get his opportunity, but it’s that’s still going to be difficult to pull off. Like you’ve got a team that has Demato Rosen likes the ball in his hands. Zack Lavine likes the ball in his hands. Dennis Shruda, we as Warrior fans know he likes the ball in his hands. Damant Sabonis likes the ball in his hands posting up, right? Like that’s four guys before we even get to to anyone else. Like Keegan Murray, we’ve spoken about like where does Keegan Murray get his looks when those other guys are out there. So, does does Kaminga really think that he’s going to get better opportunity at the Kings with D Rozan, Lavine, Sabonis, and Shruda than he would at the Warriors where you’ve got Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler who Jimmy Butler actually kind of wants to playmate and not actually be a scorer? So, you might even like, is there a world in Kaminga comes back? Is there a world where Kaminga comes back and he actually is the second leading scoreer on the Warriors next season? I think it’s unlikely. I think it’s really unlikely, but I don’t think it’s absolutely impossible. Like, he could come back and legitimately be the second leading scorer on the Warriors if Jimmy continues to play this role where it’s like, hey, I kind of want to set up my teammates more than I do actually want to score myself. And obviously given, you know, there’s going to be nights as Slater alludes to where Steph and Jimmy rests. So I don’t know. Like we talk about is the is the grass always greener on the other side? I don’t know if I’m I know like the Suns and Kings are pitching this to Kaminga, but if I’m Kaminga, I’m looking at it and thinking hang on like the Rose and Lavine Shrew a bonus. like am I really seeing my seeing my on ball opportunities or am I going to be posting like am I going to be you know standing the corner on the wing waiting for my three-point attempts when I’m not a great three-point shooter like what’s actually going on there like is he actually really going to get that opportunity I don’t know the Kings could say oh well we’re going to try and move on from these guys D Rozan’s probably the only one that I would say yes you could probably trade because I think his contract is still reasonable enough still making over $40 million going to tough to trade. Sabonis is going to be tough to trade. Yes, he’s more valuable and I think that some teams around the league might have interest in him, but even just executing a trade that, you know, on a guy that’s making nearly $50 million is difficult in today’s, you know, um landscape of the first and second tax apron. So, and and then obviously you’ve just signed Shruder, which to me made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but like whatever, it’s the Kings. So, I don’t know. I’m just not sure that like there’s an an opening here for Kaminga at these other teams that would not be available at the Warriors, particularly during the regular season. And then like he’s thinking, well, okay, then come playoff time, you know, Steve might just yank me and I won’t get the same opportunity. Well, hang on a second. Do you think the Suns and the Kings are going to make the playoffs to begin with? Like at least if you’re at the Warriors, you probably have a stronger chance of even getting to the playoffs and then being able to make a name for yourself. Like I don’t know. Would you would you prefer the opportunity to go out and make a an impact in the playoffs or would you prefer go to one of these other teams where they’re probably not going to make the playoffs and you could try and put up big regular season numbers? But again, you could probably put up big regular season numbers for the Warriors given their need for a third scoring option and the aging trio of Steph, Jimmy, and Draymond. So, I don’t know. Anyway, uh Kamingo no longer wants to be a secondary option or a full fallback plan, fearing a minimization in important moments. He scored 18 30 23 and 26 points in the final four playoff games against the Minnesota Timberwolves after Curry went down. But Kaminga was entirely out of the rotation in the first round against the Houston Rockets, a painful memory that helped shape his current mindset. So he remained on the summer search for a potential fresh start. So really like all these reports today essentially come down to the Warriors want to keep Kaminga, but they’re having a hard time convincing him. And I’m not sure it’s the convincing I don’t think is the contract necessarily. Like yes, it says before that uh just going back up here, um Kaminga hasn’t found anything they presented appealing. Well, yes, maybe not from like a a role standpoint, but from a contract standpoint, again, it says the Warriors believe they’ve offered Kaminga the highest starting salary currently on the table for him from any team. And so I don’t think this is a contract situ like an actual money financial situation. It’s the role and whether the Warriors can convince Kaminga that hey we’re going to have like we’re going to need you particularly in the regular season and we’re going to to hopefully like hopefully that then leads us to a point where you can be a big time playoff performer as well. Like so that’s the biggest thing to me. The Warriors want to keep Kiminga, but Kaminga apparent like you know it’s become pretty apparent here that he would probably desire a fresh start elsewhere. Again, that requires the Warriors to accept any kind of signing trade which at this point is just like they have no interest in with the with the offers that have been presented to them by the Suns and the Kings. So, it’s a fascinating situation. Uh I’m still hopeful. I’m still hopeful, I think, from a Warrior standpoint that uh, you know, a deal can get done here and that Kaminga can come back and we can just see what happens at the start of next season because yes, like I I don’t think it’s BS. I don’t think it’s BS for the Warriors to say to Kaminga cuz there’s a world in which you could say, oh, the Warriors will just say they they’re offering Kaminga this role and and you know, all this on ball opportunity or whatever else and scoring need and whatever. and they’re just saying that because they want him to sign the contract. No, like I think there’s like an actual genuine real world here where the Warriors do need him. Like they do need him to a point in terms of again that third scoring load in terms of Steph and Jimmy being old. Uh and I don’t know, we’ll just wait and see what happens. It’s certainly frustrating. It’s holding up the Hawford Melton and perhaps Seth Curry piece to this and whatever else the Warriors want to do. Uh, but to me, I’m still hopeful that the Kaminga situation can be resolved in him coming back on, you know, a three-year, 65 to 70 million contract, something around that mark. Uh, and I’m hopeful still, and I think I’m more optimistic than most Warrior fans in terms of him actually, you know, getting getting an opportunity at the start of next season to really thrive and perhaps this could still turn around and he could have a long-term future at the Warriors. It would seem very unlikely right now at this point, but I don’t know. I’m an optimistic person. And while Jonathan Kaminga is still technically part of the Warriors kind of, he’s not contracted, but he still kind of is. I’m still viewing him as a Warrior player. Um, you know, the Warriors have he’s a restricted free agent, so the Warriors have the rights to that, I suppose. Uh, and while he’s still a Warrior player, I’m hopeful and I’m and I’m optimistic and we saw what he did in the second round of the playoffs. And uh hopefully, you know, again, he comes back on a significant deal on that kind of, you know, Steve is is trying to patch things together now and it would be up to Steve to follow through on that and actually deliver him the kind of role and opportunity that he wants. Uh it’s, you know, we don’t necessarily want to put one player in front of the whole team. I get that. But I do think there is a part of this where the Warriors are a tier below, you know, the the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets in the Western Conference, and maybe they’re really their best pathway to closing that gap is to um, you know, give Kaminga an an a really substantial role and hope that he can take off individually and that him taking off individually can help the team take off to a new level as well. Because otherwise like where does the significant significant improvement come from? That’s my question. Where does that you know aside from another like trade going on here or something like where does the significant improvement come from? I think our Hawford will be very very helpful. Is he going to be a significant significant improvement to put the Warriors up into the same class as a Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, and obviously the Thunder are kind of in a class of their own? Probably not. Is the Anthony Melton going to be very helpful? Yes. I think he’s going to be very helpful. Does he put the Warriors up into that same, you know, top tier? No, I don’t think so. So really, I think the best way and best path of getting of getting the Warriors up into that top echelon of teams in the West is Kaminga taking a risk on that and saying we’re just going to have to give this guy the opportunity and hope that he can take off in a way that he suddenly becomes a star player and now we’ve got a completely different look on our team. and that’s going to be really hard to guard and you know we’re hoping that that will help us you know get up into into a bracket where we’re contending for a deep playoff spot. Anyway, I’m going to finish it up there guys. Let me know what you think on these latest Kaminga reports. What you would like to see the Warriors do, if you’re happy with them looking to resign JK or whether you think they should be accepting a sign and trade offer from the Suns, the Kings or any other rival team. If you haven’t subscribed to YouTube channel already, that would be greatly appreciated. You can follow me at PO252, that’s PK252 andX/ Twitter. Uh, as always, if we get any other major reports like this or or anything in regards to the JK situation or anything to do with the Warriors, I’ll be jumping back on another podcast or a live stream. Of course, in the meantime, you can also check out my riding content over on bluemanhoop.com. Thanks again, guys.

Major reports on Jonathan Kuminga’s future with the Golden State Warriors from ESPN on Thursday, including that the franchise certainly wants the young forward back in the fold ahead of next season.

However, convincing Kuminga that the Warriors are the best team for him remains a major problem, with sign-and-trade scenarios still in play.

Plus, the threat of signing the qualifying offer and how mutual interest with free agent Seth Curry could be bad news for one of Golden State’s playoff heroes.