Jonathan Kuminga was asking for money “well beyond” $30 million to sign a new contract extension with the Golden State Warriors before Monday’s deadline. Monte Pool The team felt his demand was too high, and now the 22-year-old forward will become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2024-25 season, NBC Sports Bay Area reported.

That is, if he hits free agency and isn’t subject to a trade before then.

Jake Fischer He tells B/R there are rumors the Brooklyn Nets are working out a trade deal for Kuminga and the Warriors (4:00).

The Nets are eyeing Kuminga in the midst of an organizational restructuring.

There are some pieces of the 0-2 squad to be excited about, most notably in Nic Claxton, but the current roster is a mix and match collection of experienced and inexperienced players, none of whom have proven particularly effective in pulling the team out of the 2015 doldrums. Eastern Conference.

Kuminga has shown flashes of a young, star player and may need a change of scenery himself given the aforementioned lack of extension, game time and continued expectation that he will prove he has earned a bigger, long-term deal.

Before the season started, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr detailed Kuminga’s checkered history with the team, including when to sit him or remove him from the rotation altogether.

He also talked about his inexperience Tim Kawakami related to TK Show podcast, “He’s still so young, if this was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, he would have just finished his fourth year of college or his rookie year in the NBA. When you put all that together, I like where JK is at. He’s getting a lot better right now.” “He’s gone, but he still has room to grow, that’s the exciting part. So I talked to him about next year and what the expectations are, he loves it here, he told me that.”

Whether or not Kuminga likes the team doesn’t make up for the fact that he still doesn’t have an extension, which Kerr also talked about.

“I think the hardest part for him is that he hasn’t gotten an extension yet and he’s seen some of the same guys from his draft class get extensions, but he understands the business. He still has some things to prove and he’s committed. I decided to go out and do those things and I’m going to help him every step of the way.” And I’m excited about it.”

Kuminga played his most minutes per match in the 2023-24 season with an average of 26.3. He scored 16.1 points per game while shooting 57.8 percent from the paint and 32.1 percent from beyond the arc; This is a weakness that stands out among the Warrior’s other trademark three-point shots.

In his strongest season to date, he added 4.8 total rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.7 steals.

He played under 20 minutes per game and averaged just six points per game in two games of the 2024-25 season.

If the Warriors aren’t committed to letting Kuminga show what he can do by staying on the court a little longer while still talking about the need to prove he’s worth the investment, perhaps it’s best for the team to find a trade partner and acquire him. He’ll get something in return before he becomes a free agent next offseason.

If the Nets are willing and able to seek out their core building blocks, this would be a mutually beneficial deal.

The Warriors no longer need to rely on potentially distracting Kuminga talk and get something in return; The young forward has a chance to play on a Nets team that doesn’t have enough quality forward depth to keep him off the court.

Is that ideal, given the Warriors’ questions about their youth depth behind all-stars Steph Curry and Draymond Green?

No, but it gets rid of the proverbial Band-Aid and allows the organization to focus on maximizing the time it still has with future Hall of Famers and potentially compete for a title rather than fielding questions and comments about when their young, potential star will be in the mix. He will appear in court in the future and get his money.

Especially Kerr and Co. if they’re not sure it’s a good fit for what they love and want to do.