According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, the Chicago Bulls are interested in Jonathan Kuminga, and it could lead to him accepting a qualifying offer with the Golden State Warriors with the goal of signing there next summer. That would be a disaster situation for the Warriors, as it would virtually guarantee they would get nothing in return for losing Kuminga.
“Don't dismiss Chicago completely as a future landing spot for Kuminga,” Fischer wrote. “The Bulls are projected to have significant salary cap space next summer and there will be more teams compared to this summer's barren marketplace. Those are among the factors that have Kuminga's camp, I'm told, strongly considering the same route that Thomas went and accepting the $7.9 million qualifying offer from Golden State that expires Oct. 1.
“Make no mistake: Kuminga's preference at this stage would be hashing out a longer deal that both parties can live with, but there simply hasn't been much movement in those talks. Sources say that there has been little substantive dialogue between the two sides since it emerged weeks ago that the Warriors were pushing a two-year, $45 million deal structure in which Golden State holds a team option for Year 2 and strips Kuminga of the right to grant consent on trades in Year 1.
Why would Bulls ruin Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga situation?
As has been the talk of the summer, Kuminga and the Warriors have been completely incapable of finding a middle ground. The Warriors won’t give Kuminga the money he wants, and he doesn’t want to budge either.
On top of that, potential sign-and-trades have reportedly flamed out because the Warriors want great value back for Kuminga, but all teams have seen for the past few years is him being in and out of Steve Kerr’s rotation.
It’s been a complete mess of a situation, and now, the Warriors are inching closer and closer to a situation where they have absolutely zero leverage.
Should Kuminga accept his qualifying offer, it would give him a no-trade clause for the upcoming season. Plus, he would be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
At that point, if he’s already made it clear that he wants to sign with the Bulls, the Warriors wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. He could simply leave in free agency for nothing.
And since he would have a no-trade clause, they couldn’t even trade him by the deadline.
Chicago has a chance to make the entire situation go from bad to impossible for the Warriors.