On yesterday’s Lowe Post, Zach was positing what would be 3rd team to send the Jazz picks in exchange for Kuminga. Apparently, the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes are so tight, Utah and other teams are afraid that Kuminga would accidentally win them extra games. So who would be the 3rd team to send additional picks to facilitate a Lauri trade to the Warriors…
…I mean that would have to be the Sixers right??
1) You get an athletic, switchable 21 year old PF with all star potential
2) The difference between Lauri’s max and Kuminga’s max next season is substantial enough where you may have the possibility of ducking the 2nd apron next season (would be around $209M). Or even if ownership is fine dipping their toes into it for 1 season, ducking it in future years becomes much more feasible while keeping the team together vs what it would be with Lauri.
3) At $7.5M this year you’d stay under the 1st apron and still be contenders for relevant buyout pieces. Sign and trade KJ + picks to Utah in that deal.
As for what it would cost, Lowe hypothesized the warriors trading Podz + 4 1sts for Lauri, but if it was Kuminga maybe the warriors only have to send 2 picks. So if we say podz for GS is optimistically worth 2 1sts on his own (maybe 1 unprotected + 1 protected), would imply kuminga on his own is worth 4 1sts on his own. IMO he checks all the boxes for someone to go almost all in for. Younger than Maxey. Jazz get 6 firsts, Warriors get Lauri, Philly gets Kuminga.
by Traditional_Cell_248
19 Comments
The first pro is the cost. I know many are sold on Lauri at his high cost, but there is a question of how much of the little things that we need he can do. Basically, you could convince me that Kuminga at 2-3 firsts is better value than Lauri at 4-5 firsts, and I think the fit is there in terms of current team needs. I like that he’s athletic, he’s used to playing a team friendly role, he’s a good defender and his shot improves with each season so far.
There are a few negatives though. While his shooting is improving, his volume is still very low and it would need to take a hefty leap to fit into the starting lineup. His rebounding numbers are meh, but he’ll probably get better with more minutes. I think he wants more than to be the dirty work guy. I think he wants to get more touches on offense. Joel, Maxey and George are going to dominate the ball, and while it’s an overall good thing that he sees himself as more than just the work horse, until PG declines, that’s basically what he is.
TL;DR I think the long-term fit with Kuminga is slightly better than Markkanen, and he’ll cost less overall to get, but the growing pains of slotting him in is much tougher.
Don’t think we are spending significant assets in a 21 year old
I would like this just as much as Lauri. Dude clearly has a lot of untapped potential and could be an incredible fit. Wonder why Utah wouldn’t want Kuminga though
Going “almost all in” for Kuminga??? What world are we living in here. We are talking about an average to below average basketball player. Essentially a bust.
I could see a scenario like this, just not sure if the sixers are the third team. It does seem like the tank for Flagg teams are really going to go for it. The jazz might just want to fully clear the deck.
I really like kuminga but he could still be a year or two away from really contributing to a championship roster. The sixers might be better off waiting and grabbing a more seasoned player who can help them this year.
Here is the thing, GS can only send 2 unprotected first and 1 awkwardly protected first (good chance it is a fake first). So, I think they pretty much have to include Kuminga in any deal.
Alright if people are gonna talk about Markannen and Kuminga can I talk about Coby White? I just love his fit with this team, they need more playmaking, could always use more shooting, he’s 6’5″ (1 inch taller than Derick White and Josh Hart), young and athletic, and he just finished second in most improved, (can’t remember who came in first 🤔).
His whole career has also been totally fcked to this point playing on the Bulls. The only reason they did anything at all last year is cuz he finally got a chance and actually was a leader for them, I think he’s tough and given a chance to play meaningful basketball, he could really break out.
Not sure what his value is long term, this year and next he’s getting 12 million, and then I’d guess we’d want to resign him, not sure if we could with the aprons, but if we could, that’s who I’d go for with our picks.
Kuminga is only 21?! I feel like he’s been in the league forever already. Wow.
Why wouldn’t they want him?
Maybe I’m dumb, but I don’t see how this is financially possibly using the KJ balloon payment? GSW are 2nd apron according to Fanspo so they can’t aggregate players in a trade and Lauri makes $18M. So, they’d need to send out someone making at least that much. Kuminga only makes $7.6M so even ballooning KJ to that number doesn’t help GSW get to Lauri
That move doesn’t even seem worth it for golden state. It doesn’t make them a contender
I get the fit/role issues – but it would be cool to have a 4 who could dunk on other teams and also someone who could potentially develop on Maxeys timeline
I feel like if I were a team I’d want Kuminga *and* Flagg. Sounds like an amazing potential pair of forwards.
Regardless, I’d love Kuminga here. He’s 2 years younger than Maxey, so they’d form a great young core and timeline of their own. Per-75 he put up 22/7/3 on 60%TS, and he played notably better to close the year as he got more minutes.
The 3pt shot is still coming along, but he played the second half of the season at 38%3PT after a cold start. The fact that he can put up 22 on 60%TS without it is very impressive, and if/when it comes his offensive game will explode.
He’s a lot of what we need right now as an athletic two-way combo forward, and he’s also everything we’d want in the future as a true potential star in this league
I’m sorry but a contract year Lauri is not worth that much. If anything, his trade value should be similar to Siakam if not lower. The caveat I guess is that it’s Danny Ainge.
Who cares, fuck golden state
I would do this but only if we could agree on a reasonable extension with him. Not trying to pay him $20 mil+ annually
The goal with the KJ salary + draft picks should be to return the best/highest upside player on their rookie scale contract we can net (that’s not a center, ofc). Kuminga would be great for this.
The presumption that the Warriors are making Kuminga available for trades is overstated here, from my perspective. As the Curry era concludes, Kuminga, B-Pods, and Moody are their primary building blocks. Pods and Moody are very good building blocks, but Kuminga has tremendous upside that I doubt they will pass up.
I have felt for sometime Kuminga would be perfect next to Joel, I hated that he shined so much last year bc the price went up substantially lol
Assuming Utah does want to absolutely bottom out then yeah a third team could get Kuminga if the Warriors value Lauri more. Would be huge for Philly.