Jonathan Kuminga remains one of the more tantalizing young athletes in the NBA. While he has not exactly lived up to the expectations he had when he was chosen No. 7 overall in the 2021 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, there is still plenty of reason to believe that Kuminga is a valuable player in the NBA.
Kuminga is still just 23-years-old, and he averaged 12.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists last season.
The Congolese forward is currrently an unrestricted free agent after the Atlanta Hawks declined his $24.3 million team option, though it is likely that whichever team lands Kuminga will have to acquire him through a sign-and-trade with the Hawks.
Below, we will look at several teams that currently do or could have interest in Kuminga in the coming days.
Jonathan Kuminga to Lakers rumors
There has been plenty of Kuminga to the Lakers smoke this week. On Friday, The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer offered up the latest on the Lakers’ interest in the forward.
“It’s believed that the Lakers hope to package their lone tradeable first round pick swap left over in 2032, along with Jarred Vanderbilt in a sign-and-trade proposal for Kuminga,” Fischer wrote. “Sources say Atlanta, however, has not considered taking back Vanderbilt in a deal that sends out Kuminga.
“There are said to be multi-team scenarios that the Lakers could pursue that offload Vanderbilt to a different team than Atlanta. That would help the Lakers provide Kuminga with an offer richer than the two-year, $20 million deal that sources say they originally presented him.”
The risk of acquiring Kuminga is two-fold for the Lakers. They would be relinquishing their sole tradeable first round pick swap if they were to execute this sign-and-trade with Atlanta, leaving them little flexibility for future deals.
In addition, Kuminga has gained something of a bad reputation around the NBA. The forward often clashed with Warriors head coach Steve Kerr while in Golden State and those issues ultimately pushed the Warriors to trade him to Atlanta this past February in a deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Bay Area.
Kuminga played just 16 regular season games with the Hawks, and Atlanta clearly wasn’t impressed with him enough to offer him a new contract.
Jonathan Kuminga to Sacramento Kings rumors
The Kings were reportedly very interested in trading for Kuminga ahead of the 2026 February trade deadline and that interest likely remains.
This week, Spotrac NBA salary cap expert Keith Smith discussed how the Kings could very well land Kuminga.
“[The Kings] are now under both aprons, comfortably,” Smith told The Drive Guys radio show on Sactown Sports. “They’re about $4 million under the luxury tax, they’re about $9 million or so under the first apron.
“I do think there’s a chance we could still see [Kuminga] with the Kings,” Smith said. “Especially as his market kind of dries up there.”
Jonathan Kuminga to Chicago Bulls rumors
The Bulls are throwing darts against the wall when it comes to finding their next star player.
Kuminga is still young enough where there is good reason to believe there is a little (or possibly a lot) of untapped potential, and at this stage of his career Kuminga should be looking more at opportunity than a new hefty contract. Now is the time that Kuminga needs to “prove it.”
Chicago may be looking to unload former lottery pick Isaac Okoro, who, like Kuminga, came in with a lot of hype but has mostly underwhelmed in the NBA.
Perhaps new Bulls GM Bryson Graham, who was with the Atlanta front office this past winter when they traded for Kuminga, would be interested in a sign-and-trade that sees Okoro wind up in Atlanta and Kuminga wind up in Chicago.
Marc Stein and Fischer also reported in late June that the Bulls would have interest in Kuminga.
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