After months of stalled negotiations, Jonathan Kuminga is officially back with the Golden State Warriors.
The 22-year-old forward signed a two-year, $48.5 million contract in Cleveland on Tuesday before flying to San Francisco to rejoin the team.
The deal includes a team option in year two and a 15 percent trade kicker, a structure that makes it easier to move if things sour down the line.
For now, though, head coach Steve Kerr is confident Kuminga won’t be a distraction.
“He reiterated twice after Wednesday’s practice that he has a fine personal relationship with Kuminga and doesn’t believe the player is the type ‘to come in and tear a team down,’” Anthony Slater of ESPN reported.
“Jimmy is an alpha,” Kerr said. “Steph and Draymond are alphas. They run that locker room. I’m not worried about anything.”
Kuminga’s agent, Aaron Turner, made much of the negotiation process public, even speaking for forty minutes on ESPN’s Hoop Collective about his client’s search for either a player option or a sign-and-trade.
Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy took a different approach.
“From my end, as a former player, understanding there’s a shelf life on your career, I’ve got no issues with guys doing whatever they can to get the deals they want,” Dunleavy said. “The money, the team, the role, all those things you’re looking for as a free agent. However you want to go about doing it, I have no issues. Would I do it that way? No. But I’ve got no issues. The offseason is time for business. During the season is time for basketball.”
Kerr, meanwhile, kept his distance from the business side.
“I told [Dunleavy] there was a reason I hated being a GM,” he said. “Those 92 days were a great example of that. I’d much prefer being a coach and letting management handle all the contract stuff.”
But now it’s on Kerr to reintegrate Kuminga into a roster built around veterans.
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