By adding Jimmy Butler during the previous season’s Trade Deadline, the Golden State Warriors essentially eliminated themselves from the Kevin Durant sweepstakes. Instead, they have been concentrating on Jonathan Kuminga, a young forward, this summer.
The Miami Heat are one team that is reportedly in the running for Kuminga. They appear lost at sea, attempting to find their way back to contention after moving on from Butler the previous season. Despite their strong interest in trading for Kevin Durant, they refused to part with their top assets. The Heat can now focus on their backup plan, Jonathan Kuminga, after Durant was traded to the Houston Rockets.
Any transaction involving Jonathan Kuminga this summer is severely hampered. The Warriors and any team that trades for Kuminga will have to go through a lot of hoops to make the salary work out due to the league’s regulations on signing and dealing restricted free agents.
A team must esteem Kuminga highly and be desperate to make a trade now rather than wait six months for those restrictions to lift and Kuminga to be sold like any other veteran player in order for them to be willing to do that.
But perhaps the Miami Heat are simply desperate. Not for Kevin Durant, apparently, but it’s difficult to image 80-year-old Pat Riley being happy with his seeding in the East as the eighth or ninth seed coming into the season. Miami must take action; they need a No. 2 scorer in addition to Tyler Herro, but they didn’t acquire Durant or Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Miami Heat will try to Kuminga, Jonathan
In the Warriors’ second-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jonathan Kuminga demonstrated that he is currently able to score a lot of points against NBA defenses. It has never been easy for him to fit in with the Warriors, both positionally and in Steve Kerr’s system, but he can flourish in the correct setting.
His upside is still very high, which is why teams like the Heat will want him this summer and beyond.
Playing off of Tyler Herro, Kuminga might be the second scorer for the Heat. Bam Adebayo’s efficiency continues to decline, so he has a limit on how many shots he can make for himself. Both Adebayo and Kel’el Ware are improving as 3-point shooters, and it’s long been known that playing next to a stretch 5 is the ideal environment for Kuminga to flourish. Instead of packing him in next to Kevon Looney or expecting him to play defense with Quenten Post behind him, the Heat have a far better position.
Kuminga is still a top-tier athleticism with the ability to rebound and defend at a high level if he locks in, and the Heat have historically valued athletes. The Heat are the best at getting every player to lock in, and with Kuminga in the proper system and completely focused, he might be an All-Star.
Miami must deal with the salary issue; it may decide to transfer some of its salary to a third team, like the Brooklyn Nets, or return a smaller sum to the Warriors. How much will Brooklyn pay Golden State to justify the trip? It’s likely that Andrew Wiggins earns too much to return. Would it include a double sign-and-trade for Davion Mitchell? Is Kyle Anderson coming back? Is Duncan Robinson a party?
Although the aforementioned Nets and other clubs could be interested in Kuminga, the Heat are currently the front-runners and recently lost the Kevin Durant sweepstakes. Jonathan Kuminga might be their next target, and it wouldn’t be shocking if Kuminga brought his skills to South Beach this summer.
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