SAN FRANCISCO – At the behest of future Hall of Fame forward Jimmy Butler, the Warriors gathered in San Diego for a players-only minicamp before the start of training camp.
Though Steph Curry, Draymond Green and the six others currently under contract were present, one player was conspicuously absent, according to multiple reports.
Jonathan Kuminga, the former lottery pick and current restricted free agent, did not attend, as he remained embroiled in contract talks with the franchise.
An Oct. 1 deadline for the 22-year-old forward to accept a $7.9 million qualifying offer still looms with the start of the season creeping closer.
If Kuminga accepts it, then he will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
“There’s a lot of upside,” Aaron Turner, Kuminga’s agent, said on the “The Hoop Collective” podcast that aired last week. “He wants to pick where he wants to go. So the QO is real for sure.”
Instead of working out with the team in Southern California, Kuminga trained in Cleveland under the eye of Turner, who posted a video of the athletic wing hitting a contested jump shot and blocking a shot in a gym.
Turner has also recently shared videos of Kuminga working on isolation scoring moves and making passing reads as the primary ballhandler, a role the player covets.
“The more you hit those shots, those midrangers, (paint pull-ups and floaters), the more teams start adjusting on you, the more you make your team better, the more people rely on you and let you do those things and let you shoot those types of shots,” Kuminga told The Athletic in June.
The Sacramento Kings are one such team that believes Kuminga could break out in such a role. Sacramento and Golden State recently restarted trade negotiations, The Athletic reported this week. Such a trade would center around Kuminga and combo guard Malik Monk, who would add athleticism and a streaky shot to a Warriors backcourt sorely lacking the former.
But as it stands, the Warriors remain the only team in the league to not make a single roster addition since the start of free agency, and have only nine players under contract while waiting for the situation to end.
As of Sunday, the sides have yet to reach a resolution to negotiations that have dominated summer headlines, and recently become national news as Turner embarked on a media tour.
According to ESPN, the offers have included a three-year, $75.2 million deal that includes a team option as the third year, a $45 million two-year offer and a $54 million three-season contract.
Kuminga’s desire for a player option in a longer deal, which would give him the choice to void the last year of a contract and enter free agency, is reported to be a sticking point in negotiations.
“If (the Warriors) want to win now, if you want a guy that’s happy and treated fairly who is a big part of this team, we believe, moving forward, you give him the player option,” Turner said on an ESPN podcast. “You do lose a little of that trade value (giving that up). But if it’s about the here and now, you give him that.”
The agent later guaranteed that his client would be all-in on helping the Warriors pursue championship No. 5 of the Curry era once Kuminga signed a contract.
“You don’t get a perfect deal, but you get a pretty good deal and he gets to feel respected about what he gets and we all move on and worry about winning, helping Steph (Curry),” Turner said.
Neither side has much time to “move on” from the contract impasse. Training camp begins on Tuesday at Chase Center.