As the Golden State Warriors continue their offseason, all eyes are on the stand-off between the front office and Jonathan Kuminga's camp as they attempt to resolve his restricted free agency.
Yet, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN, the Warriors can blame the Toronto Raptors and their handling of the Immaneul Quickley situation for their current discrepancies with Kuminga, as Quickley's contract has given restricted free agents unreasonable expectations concerning their value on the market.
Now, Golden State must attempt to find some sort of common ground with Kuminga, and their entire offseason rests on their ability to do so.
Immanuel Quickley's contract has given Kuminga unreasonable expectations
As the Warriors entered the offseason, there was much speculation surrounding a potential sign-and-trade for Kuminga, and numerous teams were rumored as suitors for the dynamic young forward.
Yet, as the offseason has gone one, the market has cooled on essentially every restricted free agent, including, Kuminga, as a result of the financial restrictions of the new CBA.
According to Marks, this problem is intensified by the benchmark set by the Raptors in their signing of Quickley prior to last season. As Marks said, "The Immanuel Quickley contract... has totally screwed up restricted free agency, because that's where agents are looking at [for a] benchmark... and this why you can't use comps."
Quickley, who was dealt from the New York Knicks to the Raptors prior to the 2023-24 season and averaged 18.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists in his 38 games with Toronto prior to his contract extension, ultimately received a five-year, $162.5 million contract.
Now, as Kuminga entered restricted free agency this offseason, reports surfaced that he was seeking something similar in a roughly four-year, $120 million contract.
Yet, with questions lingering about his fit and viability on the roster, the Warriors have maintained their standpoint of a short-term contract for Kuminga sitting at around $20 million a year.
While Kuminga has seemed to be open to such a figure, his requests for more leverage within this deal have led the two parties to a standstill, and it is certainly a result of these intially unreasonable demands that Golden State has not found a resolution as of yet.
While Kuminga is certainly a dynamic scorer, his situation is not necessarily comparable to Quickley's. Quickley was the Raptors' prized return in the O.G Anunoby trade, and he started all 38 games with the team prior to his extension.
Kuminga, meanwhile, is largely a non-shooter and is not necessarily an apt defender, leaving his value much lower than that of Quickley's.
Nevertheless, the Warriors have a tall task ahead of them in overcoming the benchmark set by Toronto last offseason.