Jonathan Kuminga, Warriors fail to reach extension agreement: sources

Jonathan Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors will not reach a contract extension before Monday's deadline, league sources said The athletemeaning the rising young wing will enter restricted free agency next summer as one of the market's most interesting names.

Kuminga's representation and the Warriors have never been closer in negotiations. Kuminga has seen some of the other bigger names in his draft class – Cade Cunningham, Scottie Barnes, Franz Wagner – receive maximum contract commitments from the teams that drafted them and believes he has the talent and opportunity to to play in this range after his 20th birthday -plus points per game for much of last season.

It's possible that Kuminga would have accepted a contract below the max, but the Warriors never increased their offer (somewhere near $30 million per year) to a thoroughly attractive level. As a result, the two teams plan to let Kuminga's fourth season expire before revisiting his future.

Kuminga enters this season as a key figure in a Warriors team with playoff aspirations. League sources say he will start Wednesday's opener in Portland and there appears to be a clear path to making him a high-volume offensive weapon, perhaps even the team's second-leading scorer behind Steph Curry.

Kuminga shot three-pointers with more confidence and volume in the preseason, making 11 of 25, mostly on catch and shot attempts in the halfcourt.

“That’s what we told him,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “You’re open, shoot it, especially if he’s going to be a (small forward) with Draymond and Loon or Trayce (Jackson-Davis).”

Kuminga made 42 of 128 catch-and-shoot threes last season. That was fewer than two per game and only an accuracy of 32.8 percent. The Warriors want him to put in more this season, and he said he wants to increase that percentage “way” and spend his summer working on it. Anything close to 40 percent would be a huge development.

“I’m still working on it,” Kuminga said. “I only take the ones that are open. I take better ones with adjusted feet. I know I will do them. I don't think about it too much. The coach wants me to take the ones that are open and not think about it. The more you don’t think about it, the more you make of it.”

Kuminga will receive a $7.6 million contract next season, the final term of his rookie contract. He remains trade-eligible through the February deadline and, since he hasn't signed a contract extension, is considered an interesting piece for any rival franchise interested in investing in him long-term.

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(Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)