The Los Angeles Lakers spent the past couple of months pursuing Jonathan Kuminga, but on Wednesday he agreed to sign a two-year, $12.4 million deal with the Timberwolves, turning down a three-year, $36 million offer from LA. His contract with Minnesota will have a player option in the second season, so he chose to bet on himself once again.
As Brian Windhorst said on Friday's episode of the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast, the forward didn't want a three-year deal, which is the minimum the Lakers could offer after getting him in a sign-and-trade.
"The Lakers were interested in bringing him in via sign-and-trade. All sign-and-trades have to be at least for three years. They don't have to be guaranteed for three years... Kuminga didn't want to be in a three-year deal."
Kuminga would've had financial security if he'd taken the Lakers' offer, but he believes he can set himself up to make more money next summer. He would've made $12 million annually in Los Angeles, but he clearly thinks he can earn more. Whether that will actually happen is another thing.
Kuminga didn't want what the Lakers could offer
Is this to say that Kuminga was never interested in Los Angeles at all? No. The two sides had conversations throughout the summer, and as NBA insider Jake Fischer said on a Bleacher Report stream earlier this week, it came down to the Lakers or the Timberwolves.
It took nearly two months after free agency began for Kuminga to decide, and Los Angeles had already used its cap space and signed Collin Sexton to the mid-level exception, so to get the forward, it would've required a sign-and-trade.
Kuminga thought this offseason would be when he could cash in after he turned down a three-year, $75.2 million deal with the Warriors last summer as a restricted free agent. Instead, he took a two-year, $46.8 million deal with a team option for 2026-27, potentially setting himself up to be a free agent again.
Well, look at how that worked out for him. He didn't come close to getting the payday he wanted, so instead of taking the three-year deal from the Lakers, he wanted to give himself another chance as a free agent next year.
Kuminga and his camp should've realized pretty quickly that he wasn't going to come close to getting an average annual salary of $20 million, which is what he made this past season. He might've been thinking about taking another deal where he bet on himself for a while, and his decision to sign with the Timberwolves made that official.
Time will tell if he ends up regretting not taking the Lakers' offer.
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