Why Jonathan Kuminga chose Minnesota over a much bigger Los Angeles Lakers offer
Jonathan Kuminga agreed to a two-year, $12.4 million contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, agent Aaron Turner told ESPN’s Shams Charania, with a player option on the second season. Charania’s initial post put the figure at $13 million. Minnesota used its taxpayer midlevel exception, the best financial tool it had left, and told Kuminga the vacant starting power forward job was his alongside Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert.
Set that number against the one he had. Golden State re-signed Kuminga in 2025 on a two-year, $46.8 million contract after restricted free agency negotiations dragged into training camp, insisting on a team option in the second year. Atlanta, which acquired him in February alongside Buddy Hield in the Kristaps Porziņģis trade, declined a $24.3 million option in June and sent him to the open market.
October 13, 2023, Los Angeles, California, USA: Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James (23) is defended by Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga (00) during an NBA basketball pre-season game at Crypto.com Arena, Friday, October 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Credit Image: © Ringo Chiu/ZUMA Press Wire)
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Why Minnesota won a bidding war it should have lost
The Lakers pursued him hardest and longest. Rob Pelinka held several conversations with Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh about sign-and-trade structures, and Los Angeles put more than $36 million over three years on the table with a comparable starting role attached.
Chicago and Portland were also in it.
Minnesota answered with people. Team president Tim Connelly flew to Miami this month for a four-hour meeting with Kuminga, Chris Finch worked him through the fit, and Edwards was a vocal part of what Charania described as a full-court recruiting press. Kuminga has never had a franchise player make that kind of public case for him.
The Timberwolves still have work to do to make it fit anyways. They will either find a trade for reserve wing Josh Green or waive and stretch his contract before Saturday’s deadline, league sources told Charania.
Minnesota went 49-33 last season and reached the conference semifinals in its fifth straight playoff trip under Finch, then spent the summer changing shape by moving on from Julius Randle and Naz Reid and adding Ball. The power forward spot was the last one open, and Kuminga’s rim pressure is a different look from anything else in that lineup.
October 21, 2025, Los Angeles, California, USA: Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga #1 dunks against the Los Angeles Lakers during an NBA basketball game at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 in Los Angeles. (Credit Image: © Ringo Chiu/ZUMA Press Wire)
He has also done damage to this exact team
In the 2025 second round, Kuminga scored 30, 26 and 23 in a series Golden State lost in five, which was the stretch that convinced people he could be a starter somewhere. Across 294 career games he has averaged 12.5 points and 4.2 rebounds, with 12.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 36 games split between the Warriors and Hawks last season.
The player option is the part that will decide whether this worked. Kuminga will turn 24 in October and can return to free agency next summer with a starting season on a 49-win team behind him.
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