With free agency drawing ever so near following the completion of the NBA draft, the future of Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga is about to reach a resolution one way or another.
If not for the CBA complications and the fact the Warriors can only take back 50% of Kuminga's outgoing salary, there's a strong likelihood that player and franchise would part ways after four turbulent seasons characterized by a rollercoaster role under head coach Steve Kerr.
Jonathan Kuminga's time with the Warriors may have come to an end
Even accounting for the CBA and the difficulty of executing a sign-and-trade, Kuminga's departure from Golden State may be all but sealed regardless. Speaking to Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard after Thursday's second-round of the draft, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. blatantly left Kuminga out of his statement regarding the team's current core players and how they'll build around them this offseason.
I think the biggest thing for us is knowing the guys that are going to be here, how do we complement around them? How do we complement around Steph and Jimmy and Draymond and BP and Moses, go down the list?
As Kawakami alluded to in his report, perhaps it's understandable for Dunleavy to omit Kuminga when his future is facing so much uncertainty. Yet it also wouldn't have done any harm to include Kuminga, and would have demonstrated the franchise's strong desire to retain him.
Instead, it's the sort of statement from the GM that suggests the Warriors aren't absolutely desperate to keep the 22-year-old, even despite his flashes of brilliance in the second-round of the playoffs where he averaged nearly 25 points on over 55% shooting across the last four games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Almost as interesting is the fact Dunleavy mentioned Golden State's other 2021 lottery pick, Moses Moody, as part of the core alongside the star veteran trio and young guard Brandin Podziemski.
The Warriors found an agreeable extension with Moody ahead of the deadline in October, but the former 14th overall pick and his new three-year, $37.5 million contract are still viewed by many as a potential trade candidate this summer.
Kuminga's market has begun to take shape in the week leading up to free agency, with the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings all linked to a move for the 6'7" forward. Based on Dunleavy's comments after the draft, Kuminga's departure from the Warriors is seemingly inevitable.