With Kuminga Deal, Steve Kerr Now Warriors’ Biggest Looming Free Agent

The Warriors’ stalemate with Jonathan Kuminga ended Tuesday night on the eve of training camp. 

Now the team will have to wait until the end of the season to address the next one: Steve Kerr. 

Kuminga and the Warriors agreed to a two-year, $48.5 million dollar contract, with a team option in the second year. The team option is reportedly designed for Kuminga to be able to negotiate a new deal—possibly with a new team—next summer.

Kuminga made $7.6 million in the final year of his rookie contract, according to Spotrac. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent in a summer where few teams had cap space, giving the Warriors leverage in negotiations. Kuminga chose the contract among multiple offers, including the $7.9 million qualifying offer, a two-year, $45 million deal with a team option, a three-year $54 million deal with no options of a three-year, $75 million deal with a team option in the third year. 

Had Kuminga accepted the qualifying offer, he would have had a no-trade clause in his contract. In his new deal, the Warriors can trade him after Jan. 15, which comes with a $1 million trade kicker, according to ESPN.

The Warriors took Kuminga No. 7 overall in 2021. Over the past four years, he’s shown flashes of being an athletic scorer with an inconsistent shot. This past season he averaged 15.3 points per game on 45% shooting. 

A sticking point in negotiations was a player option vs. a team one in the final year of the deal, with Kuminga wanting to control his own future and hit the market next summer, when more teams have the money to sign him. 

“We look at the sacrifice of his game, these other teams, [Suns owner] Mat Ishbia, who’s openly said he’d give [Kuminga] whatever he could if he had the cap space; he’s trying to figure it out through a sign and trade.” Kuminga’s agent Aaron Turner recently said on The Hoop Collective Podcast. “So when you factor all of that in the thought is, OK, if we’re coming back here and it’s win now, this is Steph’s probably last window to win, help us out on the back end of the deal because we’re going to be sacrificing. That’s why the player option has been so pushed by us…We think it’s fair.”

Turner’s press tour during contract talks clearly agitated players. When Stephen Curry was asked on Monday about Turner’s comments about Kuminga’s asks, he quickly shot it down. 

“I only listen to my teammate,” Curry said. “I don’t listen to agents or anybody who are speaking on behalf. I’ll hear that from JK.” 

The Warriors had just nine players for the majority of their offseason and were in a holding pattern to sign more until Kuminga’s situation was settled. The team quickly filled four more roster spots this week including Al Horford, Gary Payton II, DeAnthony Melton, and Steph Curry’s younger brother Seth. 

The additions put the Warriors’ payroll at roughly $206 million, which has them roughly $2 million below the hard-capping second apron,. The team could sign a 15th player to the veteran minimum on Nov. 11 after the team has already played 11 regular season games. 

Kerr’s Expiring Contract

With Kuminga signed, the Warriors’ biggest free agent-to-be is Kerr, whose deal ends at the end of the season. 

Kerr has won four titles since taking over as head coach in 2014. He turned 60 in September and is the second-longest tenured coach in the NBA behind the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra. He became the highest-paid coach in NBA history when he signed a two-year, $35 million extension in 2024. 

“I’m very comfortable just going into the season with a year left,” Kerr said on Tuesday. “I’m so aligned with [general manager] Mike [Dunleavy] and [owner] Joe [Lacob] that we talked about this, there’s no reason for discussion, concern. This is kind of a point in our relationship where it’s just like ‘Let’s just see how it is at the end of the year.’ And I love my job. I love what I’m doing every day, and can’t wait to get to the building.”

The core trio of Curry, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler are all under contract through 2026–27 and Kerr has become synonymous with the Curry era. While it’s hard to see one with the organization and not the other, Kerr is aware that coaching tenures can end suddenly. 

“I don’t anticipate any negotiation during the season,” Kerr said. “And who knows, maybe it all comes up at some point. They come to me, whatever. But I’m not the slightest bit concerned about it…I’ve said this before, I think, but however this ends, it’s gonna be done in a really quality way. It’s gonna happen the right way. If it’s meant to be for me to keep going, then I’m going to keep going. And if it’s meant to be for the team to move on to somebody else, there will be nothing but gratitude and appreciation.”