The debates about Jonathan Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors will never end. The sun will rise in the east and set in the west, oceans will rise and fall, empires will crumble, the sand will inexorably pour down the hourglass of life, and someone will still be arguing about whether Kuminga earned more minutes than Steve Kerr gave him.
Now, Kuminga’s final contract with the Warriors is officially over, as the Atlanta Hawks declined to pick up the 23-year-old’s $24.3M team option for 2026-27. The
move doesn’t necessarily close the door on Kuminga to return to the club at a lower salary, but the Hawks did give Kuminga what the Warriors refused to: The chance to pick his next team.
There’s conflicting reports about the league-wide interest in Kuminga. Marc J. Spears says the Sacramento Kings are still interested in Kuminga, though they can only offer him $2.6M. Yes, much like when they proposed a trade of Dario Saric and Devin Carter for Kuminga last summer, the Kings have very little to offer for Kuminga. Sam Amick reports that the Kings are out on Kuminga, perhaps out of a wildly optimistic hope they can trade for Jalen Duren.
Kuminga had some big moments for the Hawks after heading to Atlanta alongside Buddy Hield in a deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Warriors. He put up 19 and 21 points in the Hawks two wins over the New York Knicks, helping to deal the eventual champions two of the three losses they’d suffer in the entire playoffs. Kuminga averaged 12.3 points and 5.3 rebounds, upping his three-point shooting to 34.6 percent, and eventually moved ahead of 2024 No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher in the Hawks rotation.
At the same time, Kuminga was limited by injuries, something that plagued him during his 2024-25 season with the Warriors as well. He played in 16 of 29 possible regular-season games for the Hawks. After missing 35 games the season before, Atlanta may have been understandably hesitant to pay Kuminga such a large sum, especially at $10M more than Nickeil Alexander-Walker and $16M more than newly-acquired three-and-D wing Aaron Wiggins.
This could be beneficial for Kuminga in the long term. He may not be getting the payday he wanted or expected — Kuminga reportedly turned down an offer for more than $100M when he became extension-eligible in 2024 — but at least he can choose a team that truly wants him.
It can’t have been easy for Kuminga last season, with the Warriors clearly only viewing him as a trade chip. The nature of restricted free agency meant that Kuminga remained in limbo all summer, hoping some team would make him an offer despite his old team threatening to match any offer. In the second-apron era, there are fewer teams than ever with salary cap space, further chilling the market. That also means Kuminga’s best hope this summer might be convincing a team to offer him the mid-level exception, which is $15M for non-taxpaying teams this summer.
In other Hawks news, the team guaranteed Buddy Hield’s full $9.66M salary for next season, rather than buy him out for $3M. It probably means they want to use his contract in a future trade, but good for Hield for getting the remainder of the proverbial bag.
All in all, the Kuminga trade has to be considered a solid win for Mike Dunleavy, Jr, & Co., after Porzingis agreed to a two-year, $40M contract Monday. Of course, waiting until February 2026 to trade Kuminga still goes down as a solid loss.
We would like to wish Kuminga luck in his next endeavors. He’s an exciting player, a world-class dunker, and a guy who contributed to an NBA title despite being in a less-than-ideal situation for five seasons. Kuminga is at a career crossroads, but wherever he ends up, we’d love to see him prove the Warriors wrong.
