NBA insider 'surprised' Jonathan Kuminga's camp rejected latest Warriors offer

The Golden State Warriors are just over one month away from the start of the 2025-26 NBA season, and a new deal for Jonathan Kuminga still hasn't found its way to the finish line.

Some progress has been made towards reaching an agreement, though. According to ESPN's Anthony Slater and Shams Charania, the Warriors last week extended a new offer to Kuminga: a three-year, $75.2 million contract with a team option for the third season.

That offer, however, was rejected, a decision that shocked NBA insider Jake Fischer.

Fischer 'surprised' additional year on contract wasn't enough to appease Kuminga

Fischer admitted as such during an "Insider Notebook" livestream on Bleacher Report's app and YouTube page.

"I am surprised that this change from Golden State is not enough for Jonathan Kuminga's camp to accept this new contract proposal," Fischer said. "The last I had heard from Kuminga's side of this equation was that getting that two-year, $45 million deal all guaranteed and moved up around a $50 million threshold — something more in conjunction with Josh Giddey's four-year, $100 million contract with Chicago — would've been enough for Jonathan Kuminga's side to strongly consider taking Golden State's offer.

"To my understanding — with this three-year, $70-plus million deal, team option in the third year — it essentially secures Kuminga those two years of starter-level money that, I was being told, they would have accepted."

What has kept Kuminga from accepting that offer, according to Fischer, is the team option at the end of the deal, which serves as the Warriors' most valuable bargaining chip. It allows them to maintain leverage in negotiations and force Kuminga to wait another season before hitting unrestricted free agency.

Giving himself the opportunity to leave the Warriors one season earlier, however, is exactly what Kuminga wants, Fischer said.

"He wants to be paid commensurately with being a starter, and he doesn't necessarily want to be in Golden State, where a head coach like Steve Kerr has pulled him in and out of the rotation in the regular season and the postseason," Fischer said. "What's been more attractive to him in Sacramento and Phoenix, in addition to the long-term money, has been the guaranteed, clear-cut starting power forward roles that both the Suns and Sacramento indicated he would be able to have in those respective scenarios."

The Warriors' willingness to commit more money and time to Kuminga is a step in the right direction towards finding some middle ground between both parties, but it wouldn't be surprising if an agreement isn't reached until closer to Oct. 1, the day Golden State's qualifying offer expires.