Inside The Warriors

NBA Fans React To Jonathan Kuminga Re-Signing With Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors finally agreed to a new contract with Jonathan Kuminga

Logan Struck

Dec 23, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga (00) looks on against the Indiana Pacers in the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images
Dec 23, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga (00) looks on against the Indiana Pacers in the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images / Eakin Howard-Imagn Images
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The Golden State Warriors spent their entire 2025 offseason stuck in negotiations with Jonathan Kuminga, trying to find a solution for the restricted free agent forward. After months of questions around Kuminga's future in Golden State, and whether he would take the Warriors' contract offer, accept the qualifying offer, or find a sign-and-trade, the two sides reached an agreement.

On the first day of training camp, Kuminga and the Warriors finally struck a deal. Kuminga reportedly agreed to a two-year, $48.5 million contract to stay with the Warriors with a team option for the 2026-27 season, ESPN's Shams Charania reports.

"Breaking: Ending a summer-long stalemate, Jonathan Kuminga has agreed to a two-year, $48.5 million contract to return to the Golden State Warriors, agent Aaron Turner told ESPN. The deal has a team option designed for the contract to be ripped up and renegotiated next summer," Charania reported.

Of course, fans stormed to social media to react to Kuminga finally signing a deal with the Warriors after months of waiting.

"This is great news for the Warriors; a very tradable contract. It is basically a potential expiring contract. With this, the Warriors will have many more partners to trade with in January 2026. Great job, MDJ! Glad you called Kuminga's bluff about signing the qualifying offer," one optimistic fan commented.

This is an ideal move for the Warriors, as they got Kuminga to sign a deal with a team option, and it is a very tradeable contract.

"Warriors should have traded him and picks for some other talent and prep for the future. We all know Kerr won’t use this kid so why keep him?" another fan questioned.

The Warriors had a couple of trade offers on the table, prominently from the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns, yet chose to keep him around in hopes of trading him later on.

"Unless he goes off, trade him at the deadline.." one fan suggested.

After signing this deal, it can be expected that the Warriors will shop Kuminga again starting in January and leading up to February's trade deadline. It will be interesting to see if they can get better offers for him by the deadline than they did during the offseason.

"A kid from the Congo just took care of his entire bloodline for life. This is what it’s about," a fan celebrated Kuminga's success.

Another fan said, "I've never seen a benchwarmer get paid like this."

Heading into the 2025 playoffs, head coach Steve Kerr benched Kuminga entirely, and making $48.5 million over the next two years is quite the price for a player who has no guarantee in the lineup.

"Why? You just gon waste him again," another fan similarly said, as many question if his role will expand now that he has a more expensive contract.

Now that the Warriors have officially signed Kuminga, they are able to complete their 15-man roster, with other additions of Al Horford, De'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, and Seth Curry, piecing together a championship-hopeful roster.

"7/10 offseason. Age will be a huge issue," one fan bluntly said about the offseason additions.

"For the non-delusional 'Get Giannis or fire everybody' fans, this was a really good offseason," another fan said with a bit more optimism over the promising offseason additions, including re-signing Kuminga.

This situation between Kuminga and the Warriors was the headline of the NBA offseason, and many fans are simply happy that that situation is wrapped up, for now.

"I can’t believe Jonathan Kuminga is the player we heard about the most all summer. Basically every day. JONATHAN FRESKING KUMINGA!" one fan exclaimed.

"They will give him decent playing time and pump up his value," one fan predicted how the Warriors will approach Kuminga's situation this season.

Time will tell how the Warriors' situation with Kuminga shakes out, and many are upset that it took this long for him to sign, but their offseason dilemma is finally over.

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Logan Struck
LOGAN STRUCK

Logan Struck is a writer covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated's On SI since 2023

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