The Golden State Warriors may have gone through a long restricted free agency with Jonathan Kuminga this time last year, but they never disrespected the young forward as much as the Atlanta Hawks have reportedly done this summer.
After declining Kuminga's $24.3 million team option to make him an unrestricted free agent, the Hawks were only willing to offer the 23-year-old a minimum contract to bring him back, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints on Tuesday.
Hawks disrespected Jonathan Kuminga worse than Warriors ever did
Kuminga averaged 26 minutes during Atlanta's first-round series loss against the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks, including playing a major role in their upset one-point victories in Games 2 and 3.
It wasn't totally surprising that the Hawks declined the team option, but his role during the playoffs does leave some level of shock that they were only willing to offer Kuminga a minimum while making other moves to round out the roster.
"The Atlanta Hawks were said to be open to bringing Kuminga back on a minimum deal, but that ship has sailed since adding Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort in trades with the OKC Thunder," Siegel reported.
The interesting element here is that Onsi Saleh, the President of Basketball Operations at the Hawks, worked previously for the Warriors earlier in Kuminga's career. That relationship played a role in February's trade that saw the former seventh overall pick head to Atlanta, along with veteran sharpshooter Buddy Hield, while Kristaps Porzingis landed with Golden State.
Hawks didn't know what they were doing with Jonathan Kuminga
You would have thought Saleh and the Hawks had a plan for Kuminga to be part of their long-term future when they made the trade, especially with comments in the aftermath that pointed to the potential, high upside and alignment to the franchise's timeline.
The fact they only offered Kuminga a minimum to return is an indication that Atlanta didn't have a long-term plan for him, that they wrongly analyzed his potential fit and impact, or that this was more about simply moving on from Porzingis after only 17 games with the franchise. Either way, it's a strange outcome.
Many around the league were criticial of Golden State's handling of contract negotiations last year, but time has proven that they were actually offering Kuminga far more player-friendly deals when you consider where his value sits less than 12 months later.
Kuminga is still looking for a contract nearing $20 million per year, but if his most recent team is so down on him that they're only offering the minimum, it's hard to see another team offering what he's after.
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