As the Golden State Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga prepare for a big offseason, there’s a pretty clear and short list of teams who could be planning to lure away the young forward as a restricted free agent.
There’s very few teams with significant cap space entering the offseason, potentially leaving the Warriors with some leverage when it comes to renewing negotiations in the summer.
The Brooklyn Nets are an obvious team that could throw a bag at Kuminga, with Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report recently predicting that the 22-year-old will eventually end up with the rebuilding team out East.
However, the Nets aren’t the only team in the Atlantic division who could have interest in Kuminga who’s been dealing with multiple injury concerns over the second-half of the season.
The 76ers have been floated as a shock destination for Jonathan Kuminga
Having entered the season with a completely revamped team and with championship belief, the Philadelphia 76ers have been one of the biggest disasters we’ve seen across the league in recent years.
Despite a new big three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, the injury-plagued 76ers are 23-54 and sit 13th in the Eastern Conference standings. It makes for another interesting offseason in Philly who will have plenty of questions to answer on the future of their franchise.
According to Declan Harris of Sports Illustrated, one of those answers could be Kuminga as a possible replacement for Guerschon Yabusele who’s been one of the rare positive for the 76ers this season.
All things considered, Kuminga would offer plenty of the upsides that Yabusele brings to the Sixers,” Harris wrote. “The only question would be what his salary commitments would look like, given it’s set to be his first non-rookie contract in the league.”
The only question with this is if Yabusele has priced himself out of returning to Philadelphia, how on earth would they be able to afford Kuminga? With nearly $150 million tied up in Embiid, George and Maxey, the options look limited for the 76ers to acquire Kuminga or any other significant piece for that matter.
While a sign-and-trade may be possible for some teams, the 76ers don’t really have any other major salaries to make it happen, assuming Kuminga wants the $25+ million per year that’s been projected. What about a Kuminga-Quentin Grimes swap given the latter will also be a restricted free agent following his fourth year?
Either way, it looks almost impossible to see Kuminga making his way to Philadelphia in the offseason. There will be teams interested in the former seventh overall pick, but there’s too many hurdles facing the 76ers to suggest it could be them.