The Sacramento Kings have re-emerged as a leading suitor for Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, having reportedly been in contact with the restricted free agent this week who is "open-minded" to the idea of joining the pacific rival according to ESPN's Anthony Slater.
While the Kings and Kuminga may be strongly interesting in a union, that's not to say it will be easy to pull off a sign-and-trade as they face an inescapable problem simply with the financial aspects of a deal.
Matching salary in a Jonathan Kuminga trade will be incredibly difficult
Sacramento are already hard-capped at the first apron after their sign-and-trade for Dennis Schroder, and Golden State will too be hard-capped at the second apron if they are to send Kuminga to the Kings or elsewhere.
Let's assume Kuminga gets a starting salary around $20 million per year deal based on the consensus among league executives in a recent poll by Fred Katz of The Athletic. With base-year compensation rules meaning the Warriors can only take back half Kuminga's salary + $7.5 million, the Kings would therefore have to send out between $12.5 and $17.5 million based on the 22-year-old's $20 million per year contract.
Golden State could take on Malik Monk's $18.8 million deal if Sacramento Kuminga bumped Kuminga's number up to about $22 million, but it's important to note that the Warriors have thus far shown no interest in the dynamic guard and it would leave them little wiggle room to make their other subsequent moves for Al Horford, DeAnthony Melton etc.
With Dennis Schroder not being trade eligible obviously and assuming Keegan Murray is off the table, let's turn the attention back to Sacramento's current reported offer of Devin Carter, Dario Saric and draft capital. This is still a financially realistic scenario, but only if Kuminga is willing to take a contract with a starting salary less than $17.85 million.
Is the former seventh overall pick really going to take a contract that low, bearing in mind that any sign-and-trade has to be at least a three-year contract. That would seem very low, even if Kuminga is willing to take a little less to get the on-court opportunity he desires.
Well, what if the Kings were willing to throw Keon Ellis into the mix as well? A 3-for-1 of Saric, Carter and Ellis for Kuminga, with whatever draft capital thrown in to make it work? This would work and allow Kuminga to get his $20 million starting salary, but it would also only leave Golden State with three roster spots of which only two they'll likely use. Do they really want to be bringing in two guards as well when they're expected to sign Melton and also have mutual interest with Seth Curry?
There's so many moving parts and constraints here that it would almost assuredly have to be a multi-team trade where Monk goes to team X, that team X gives the Warriors something they find desirable, and the Kings get Kuminga. That in itself brings its own complications, which is why this entire scenario remains in a logjam and with little ending in sight.