For most of this offseason, the Jonathan Kuminga sweepstakes has felt like a two-horse race. The Lakers wanted to plug him in next to Luka, the Timberwolves needed a young forward, and everyone else was treated as background noise. That noise just got a lot louder.
Jonathan Kuminga is reportedly down to the Lakers or Timberwolves, per @JakeLFischer The Decision 🍿 (h/t @RealGM )
That was the going assumption as of Wednesday morning: Kuminga's market was Lakers or Timberwolves, full stop. Then Jake Fischer, one of the more plugged-in trade reporters in the league, threw a wrench into that narrative a few hours later.
But, yeah, NOLA has been the Bennedict Mathurin team since before February’s trade deadline. Said yesterday on @BleacherReport Chicago wasn’t factoring into his free agency. But I believe the Bulls are involved in Jonathan Kuminga’s process to a real degree, in addition to Lakers, Wolves.
Fischer's report is notable for how specific it is. He wasn't just floating the Bulls as a nice-to-have suitor — he says Chicago is involved "to a real degree," language that suggests actual internal traction rather than a front office kicking tires. He also used the same post to shoot down speculation elsewhere, noting the Pelicans remain Bennedict Mathurin's team and that Chicago wasn't in the mix for Mathurin's free agency.
The reason this whole saga has dragged into late August comes down to structure, not desire. Kuminga is a restricted free agent, meaning Golden State can match any offer sheet or lean on a qualifying offer to keep leverage. Reported frameworks have ranged from a shorter deal in the $45 million range up to a four-year, roughly $77 million contract with a player option, and because the Lakers don't have the cap space to sign him outright, any move to Los Angeles likely requires a sign-and-trade built around Jarred Vanderbilt's expiring money, draft capital and possibly a young piece like Dalton Knecht or Jaden Hardy.
A third team like the Bulls changes the calculus in a real way. More suitors means more competing offers for Golden State to weigh, but it also means more moving parts in what was already, as one outlet put it, a puzzle rather than a simple trade. Chicago has cap flexibility that neither the Lakers nor Wolves can match, which is exactly the kind of leverage that can turn a stalled negotiation into a real bidding situation.
Nothing is close to finalized, and Fischer's report reads more like a signal flare than a done deal. But with the Warriors reportedly unwilling to give up a 23-year-old talent for scraps, the addition of a third serious bidder is exactly the kind of pressure that tends to speed these things up. Kuminga's camp finally has more than two dance partners — now it's a matter of who blinks first.