Crafting A Jonathan Kuminga Three-Team Sign-and-Trade Involving Hawks, Lakers, and Blazers

As the Jonathan Kuminga saga drags on, the Los Angeles Lakers have consistently stood out as the obvious favorites to acquire him. There's some basketball sense behind their interest - they can swap out some of their bad contracts, they have a gaping hole at the starting PF spot, and Luka Doncic has always found a way to utilize players with Kuminga's athleticism.

However, the Atlanta Hawks' front office has shown a clear preference to avoid taking on Jarred Vanderbilt's salary. Per NBA insider Jake Fischer, the hold-up has been finding a third team that has some interest in Vanderbilt and can send out a salary of decent size in order to absorb the Lakers wing.

More recently, the deal has continued to stall because of this roadblock. ESPN's Anthony Slater had this to say on the situation as of the morning of August 7th:

"The opportunity [with the Lakers] appealed to Kuminga, but the sign-and-trade contract offer (years, money, package going back to Atlanta) didn't satisfy all sides. The Lakers remain interested in him, league sources said, but movement toward a deal has remained stalled for weeks."

Since the Hawks seem very hesitant to get Vanderbilt back in a deal, including a third team in the trade makes complete sense for everyone. The only question is finding a team that's willing to shoulder Vanderbilt's salary and take a step back in the meantime while still having players that would help Atlanta's roster.

What if that team was the Portland Trail Blazers?

The Trade

Hawks, Atlanta Hawks, Blazers, Portland Trail Blazers, — Mar 1, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Jonathan Kuminga (0) dunks over Portland Trail Blazers center Yang Hansen (16) in the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Hawks get: Dalton Knecht, Shaedon Sharpe, 2027 2nd round pick (via POR), 2028 2nd round pick (via POR)

Lakers get: Mo Gueye, Jonathan Kuminga

Trail Blazers get: Buddy Hield, Jarred Vanderbilt, 2027 first-round pick swap (via ATL), 2032 first-round pick swap (via LAL)

In this scenario, Kuminga would sign a four-year, $64 million dollar contract with a player option on the fourth year and a starting salary of $16,000,000 in the first year. All three teams would stay under the luxury tax with this deal and have enough roster spots to the point where they wouldn't need to waive/sign anyone.

Why Would These Teams Do This Trade?

For the Hawks, the upside of adding Sharpe is hard to see at first. He's another guard on a team that's already trying to find minutes for Dyson Daniels, NAW, Kingston Flemings and CJ McCollum. However, adding Sharpe would be opportunistic long-term planning that does make some sense in the broader vision of this roster.

Atlanta needed to add more ball-handling this summer and while they've drafted Flemings, rookie guards usually grow through growing pains that are likely going to cap his upside in Year 1. Sharpe already has four seasons of experience as an important ball-handler in Portland and he's coming off a season where he averaged 20 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game on 45.2/33.7/78.7 shooting splits.

The efficiency can definitely improve, but he's a more proven commodity than Flemings at this stage and there's always some value in players who have shown that they can dribble, pass, and score at an average/above-average level in the NBA.

Furthermore, he's a massive guard. Sharpe stands at 6'5 and has an almost 7-foot wingspan. He's extremely athletic, as evidenced by some of the massive dunks he's broken over the past few years. He's a natural fit for the Hawks' fast-paced offense and brings valuable positional size.

The problem is that he isn't a particularly good defender. Sharpe ranked in the 18th percentile for defensive rating on-off as a -3.7. He's not a good defensive rebounder, struggles to rotate over at the right time and doesn't stay in front of his assignment consistently. There's a lot of work to be done on defense.

However, there aren't many guards who draw his level of contact (4.7 free throw attempts per 75 minutes - 93rd percentile) and have his athletic tools. At just 23 years old, he's far from his peak, and the Hawks don't have to wear him out by giving him a ton of on-ball repetitions. They'll be bringing CJ McCollum off the bench, but they'll likely be trying to preserve McCollum for the playoffs, and Sharpe will get plenty of opportunities around amazing defenders like Daniels and Lu Dort.

Regardless, McCollum shouldn't factor heavily into the Hawks' future plans due to his age. If the Hawks made this trade, they'd be banking long-term on a future where Dyson and Flemings are the backcourt, NAW plays as a SF, and Sharpe is the sixth man.

The key to Sharpe's game is his health. He was extremely durable as a rookie, playing 80 games, but he played in 32 games as a sophomore and 42 games last season. He did play 72 games in his third season, and coincidentally, he shot an excellent 55.7% on two-pointers. The same issues on defense dogged him, but a change in scenery in Atlanta, where he's coming off the bench and asked to just fit into Quin Snyder's defined defensive system, might be exactly what he needs.

Speaking of a defensive system, Lakers head coach JJ Redick has shown an ability to elevate the defensive performance of his teams without having a ton of great defenders in the lineup. He revitalized Marcus Smart, and in the playoffs, the Lakers had almost the same defensive rating as the Minnesota Timberwolves despite not having anywhere near the same level of defensive talent. Kuminga's athleticism and physicality are excellent starting points for Redick to build off.

The offensive fit may be somewhat clunky to start with a possible starting lineup of Doncic, Reaves, Quentin Grimes, Kuminga, and Walker Kessler. Both Kuminga and Kessler aren't really shooters, but they are great lob threats, and there will be games during the regular season where they can just overwhelm teams in the paint. Doncic, Reaves, and Grimes are all also decent to great shooters on high volume, so they should be able to make it work.

For Portland, the appeal is getting two potentially juicy pick swaps to add to their draft pick hoard while also clearing future cap space for a Deni Avdija extension. Hield brings much-needed high-volume shooting, and a healthy Vanderbilt could pair with Toumani Camara to form a pretty imposing perimeter defensive duo. Even so, Vanderbilt is just salary filler, and they might be able to trade him next offseason as an expiring contract.

Sharpe's fit in Atlanta is a bit clunky for 2025-26, but the combination of ceiling and future need could make him a very shrewd acquisition for the Hawks - and a solution to a drawn-out free agency saga with Kuminga.

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