Like any agent that is worth his commission, Aaron Turner is his client’s largest cheerleader because he is the first among those who believe Warrior striker Jonathan Kuminga is a starting role far from becoming an all-star of the perennial NBA.
Maybe it is, but it does not happen in Golden State. Not as long as the basic trio – Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler – remains intact. And if there is no room for Kuminga in the starting program, he cannot be the player he wants to be.
“This is probably true,” said Turner on Friday during an appearance on “Dubs Talk”. “But that doesn’t mean it can’t work, or it’s not ok for the moment. JK is an ambitious 22 year old. I’m not going to take it away from him. I love it. It should be. (He is) young. You want to continue growing and getting better.
“The way JK moves is that he wants to continue to push the limits, and I will not take this away from him. I actually agree with this. Can he be the player he wants to be here, at the moment, with this list composition? No. But that does not mean that he does not want to win and he is not willing to sacrifice for the group.”
This concession is necessarily Impact on any contractual offer. What is the height that warriors are ready to go for someone who came out of the bench in sixth or seventh man?
Golden State’s latest offer, around $ 75 million over three years, is really a two -year agreement because the 3rd year is a team option. This offer was made with considerable reluctance, and increasing up to $ 100 million or more does not seem to be on the horizon.
Turner acknowledges that the value of the Kuminga contract is lower than most of his lottery colleagues in the draft of the NBA 2021, largely because he entered the league with a team with an outgoing superstar. A team was built not to develop but to continue the championships.
“These other guys did not really go to teams winning,” said Turner. “If the Warriors did not win in 22 (negotiating a new contract) is probably very fluid and easy. But they have done so, and that kind of complicated things.”
Five of the six players selected before Kuminga in the NBA 2021 draft last summer.
N ° 1 Pick Global Cade Cunningham (Pistons), the choice n ° 3 Evan Mobley (Cavaliers) and the choice n ° 4 Scottie Barnes (Raptors) received maximum recruit offers of $ 224 million of five years. The same goes for the number 8 of Franz Wagner (Magic), which was selected just after Kuminga. Choice No. 2 Jalen Green (Rockets) has taken an extension of three years worth 106 million dollars and choice No. 5 Jalen Suggs was extended for five years to 150.5 million dollars.
Each of these players has joined a reconstruction team. Cunningham, Green, Mobley, Barnes, Suggs and Wagner were entries of day 1.
So too, was Josh GiddeySelected sixth in the general classification by Oklahoma City. The Thunder studied it for three seasons before hitting last summer and exchanging it in Chicago. After a season with the Bulls, Giddey obtained an extension of four years worth $ 100 million.
Four years after their careers, everyone has been identified as a cornerstone of their current franchise. You can’t say as much Kuminga, which has also entered much less experience.
Blame it on the circumstances, if you want, because there is no way to project how much JK could fly if it had been drafted by a team without established kernel.
Kuminga is perfectly aware of nine -digit contracts among his peers and dreams of having one. It is worth it, according to Turner.
“JK does a good job to do his own race,” he said on Friday. “It is not too taken in what everyone does. He understands that his situation is unique and accepts this.
“But he thinks that he is at the level of these guys and the money they have obtained? Yeah, he does. He does. And, frankly, me too.”
The Warriors have no desire to offer Kuminga $ 100 million or more. Four seasons in his NBA careerThey do not perceive it unanimously as a cornerstone of franchise. They hope that he can be the way to acquire a veteran who would be more compatible with their nucleus.
If Kuminga between next season with the Warriors, he will be a reserve. Someone who can get out of the bench and change the direction of a game. With so many veterans expected on the final list, their juvenile energy will have enormous value.
It is one thing to accept such a modest role, another to kiss him with joy.
“If you look at a championship team, a sacrifice is necessary,” said Turner. “It must come from someone with talent. It’s just a part.
“He did not get this part of his career like some of his peers, where he can understand exactly who he is. It was somehow deleted by the first championship that the Warriors won in 22, then all they came after that.”
Get out of the bench does not speak in the heart of Kuminga. Less than a last -minute trade – and such discussions have a way of being revised – he will have to win an opportunity where he can become a starter. And be the player he wants to be.
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