The Golden State Warriors approach to Jonathan Kuminga's free agency has been bewildering to many, with the franchise unwilling to offer more than a single season of guaranteed money to the 22-year-old, yet also holding firm on their reluctance to entertain sign-and-trade scenarios.
That includes multiple offers from the Sacramento Kings who have been the strongest potential suitor for Kuminga. The pacific rival started with a laughable package of Dario Saric, Devin Carter and second-round picks, before moving closer to the mark with an offer of Malik Monk and a protected future first-round pick.
Some fans implored the Warriors to take that offer and simply move on from the entire Kuminga saga, but it's now become crystal clear as to why the franchise rejected that package for the former seventh overall pick.
The Warriors do not view Malik Monk as a good fit
Monk has become one of the best bench players in the league over recent seasons, including finishing second in Sixth Man of the Year in 2024. Yet it's clear to Golden State that Monk's score-first style and defensive question marks wouldn't necessarily be a fit for them, leading to their rejection of the Kings' proposed deal.
It was a well spoken theme of the latest Warriors Plus Minus podcast, with Tim Kawakami and Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic discussing Monk as "not a Warriors kind of guy" in comparison to current shooting guard Brandin Podziemski and expected free agent signing De'Anthony Melton.
“I'm not saying they would never take Malik Monk, but there's part of the reason why they didn't do this Kuminga offer from Sacramento is building (the offer) around Malik Monk," Kawakami said.
There's an argument to be made that the Warriors need some dynamic scoring and shot-creation to supplement aging stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, something Monk would provide after averaging a career-high 17.2 points and 5.6 assists with the Kings last season.
Yet with Curry and Butler clearly remaining the two dominant stars, Golden State still need players who compliment them first and foremost while then hopefully providing some extra scoring and playmaking.
From that perspective, you can understand why the Warriors rejected the Kings offer for Kuminga. Monk has only played in one playoff series (against Golden State) in his eight-year career to date, so his contributions to winning don't exactly stand out.
As for Kuminga, Golden State are still trying to work through his free agency and find a resolution that doesn't involve the disaster of him taking the qualifying offer. There's still a slight chance that a trade to the Kings takes place where Monk is coming back the other way, but you'd imagine the Warriors would have to be incentivized with far more in draft capital than what's previously been presented.