Restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga will return to the Golden State Warriors on a two-year, $48.5 million contract, ESPN and The Athletic reported Tuesday.
Kuminga’s contract includes a team option for the second year, the reports said, that allows the Warriors to pivot toward negotiating a fresh deal with the former lottery pick.
ESPN previously reported that Golden State presented three contract frameworks to Kuminga: a three-year, $75.2 million deal with a team option on the third season and a guaranteed $48.3 million in the first two years; a two-year, $45 million deal with a team option on the second season; and a three-year, $54 million deal with no options.
Kuminga, 22, was seeking a player option instead of a team option, but the Warriors stood firm. His agent, Aaron Turner, told “The Hoop Collective” earlier this month that Kuminga was prepared to sign the one-year, $7.9 qualifying offer that would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
He chose the two-year contract, which allows him to reach free agency sooner than the three-year pacts.
Reports earlier in the offseason indicated that the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns had interest in trading for Kuminga, but the Warriors did not entertain sign-and-trade possibilities.
It took time for the seventh overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft to work into the Warriors’ rotation, as he mostly came off the bench as a rookie on the most recent Golden State team to win a championship.
In 258 regular-season games (84 starts), Kuminga has averaged 12.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. That included 15.3 points and 4.6 rebounds over 47 games (10 starts) in 2024-25, when he missed two months with an ankle injury.
Kuminga hardly saw the court for the Warriors in their first-round upset of the Houston Rockets. But once Stephen Curry suffered an injury in Game 1 of the second-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kuminga stepped into the rotation and averaged 20.8 points in 27.4 minutes per game as the Warriors lost in five.
–Field Level Media
