Locked in a restricted free agency that has been described as “ice cold,” Jonathan Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors might have no choice but to settle.
If no one else makes Kuminga an offer sheet, then he doesn’t really have anywhere else to go.
And if Kuminga doesn’t have any negotiating leverage, the Warriors don’t really have to cave to his contract demands.
That could lead to what The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, in a radio appearance, termed as a “compromise contract.”
“I think all of the market dynamics at play will lead him back to the Warriors at a compromise contract that can potentially be traded on December 15th,” Slater told AM 1140 in Sacramento.
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If Kuminga does indeed sign such a deal, that Dec. 15 will become one that everyone is watching. It’ll give Kuminga a couple months to prove whether he fits in with this current Warriors group or really needs to be sent away.
By that point, contenders would know if Kuminga might help them, and if he’s on a more friendly contract, it would make him more easily traded.
It’s probably not idea for the Warriors or Kuminga. It pretty much pushes the problem a little further down the road.
But at this point, it might be the only choice they have.
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