The Jonathan Kuminga negotiations are setting up a test of the Warriors’ infrastructure

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The company line from Jonathan Kuminga’s camp after the latest round of intensifying negotiations is that if the Warriors turn the team option in his contract offer into a player option, he’ll be all-in and ready to roll. 

Ready to help Steph Curry and Draymond Green win their fifth championship ring. 

This summer’s tense negotiations have left Kuminga unsigned less than two weeks before training camp and Golden State’s remaining offseason business still pending. Kuminga’s latest posture is another reminder that even when it gets resolved — however it gets resolved — there will surely be aftershocks that slip into the season. 

How would Curry, Green, and Jimmy Butler feel about Kuminga buying in on the condition of the front office concedes to his contract wishes? How about his Hall of Fame head coach who has spent the past four years trying to get through to him? 

Kuminga and his agent, Aaron Turner, have played their cards well this summer. They’ve used the threat of taking the qualifying offer to compel Golden State to increase its offer from one guaranteed year to two, at a figure that would make the 22-year-old wing one of the highest-paid bench players in the league. 

A review of the options on the table, reported by ESPN: 

Kuminga’s side has convinced the Warriors to budge from their initial proposal, but their negotiating tactics could be felt in the locker room and the coaches’ offices.

The subtext of Kuminga’s latest stance — turn the T.O. into a P.O. and we’re all in — is that if the Warriors don’t acquiesce, then the wing won’t be 100% committed this season. 

Kuminga’s tumultuous first four seasons have already made his partnership with the Warriors shaky, but conditional effort is a weak foundation to move forward on. 

What might Green think if Kuminga’s late on a defensive rotation? Or Curry if Kuminga looks him off to take his man off the bounce? Or the coaching staff on the sideline if he jogs back on defense in transition? Now that the idea of Kuminga’s enthusiasm being linked to his contract is out in the ether, it’s out there forever. 

It’ll be a dynamic for Curry, Green, and Steve Kerr to work through, no matter what type of contract Kuminga is back on. 

The Warriors aren’t new to internal strife. Kevin Durant was famously unhappy during the 2018-19 season, his last year with Golden State. Klay Thompson’s contract negotiations clouded over the team in 2024 as his mood soured amid his declining role. Green punching Jordan Poole before the 2022-23 season derailed the Warriors’ title defense and led to the young guard’s ouster. And Green’s erratic on-court behavior in 2024 — which led to two separate suspensions — inspired existential questions. 

Kuminga’s stint with the team hasn’t always been comfortable, either, even independent of this summer. His aspirations to become a star scorer have, at times, run perpendicular to Golden State’s win-now goals. He reportedly “lost faith” in Kerr during the 2024 season, and the coach has publicly questioned Kuminga’s fit as he benched him at crucial moments last year. 

Yet up until this point, tensions regarding Kuminga have been basically confined to the court: How can we get him to buy in to rebounding and playing defense, in which lineups can we spring him loose, what areas of the court do we want him taking shots from? Kuminga’s effort, albeit sometimes misplaced, hasn’t been an issue. Neither has his work ethic. He has bounced back from DNPs to play well and put his head down after being removed from the starting lineup last year. 

But now there’s money involved. Big money. And, apparently, strings attached to it. 

It will inevitably fall on the Warriors’ coach, their stars, and their culture to sort this out.