Jonathan Kuminga, the 23-year-old potential-laden forward who finished last season with the Atlanta Hawks, remains a free agent as of Sunday. The Los Angeles Lakers have been pursuing him, but so have the Cleveland Cavaliers and perhaps at least one other team in the NBA.
There has been at least one snag in the Lakers’ attempts to land him. He reportedly wants a contract that would pay him at least $20 million a year, and it is unknown if the Hawks would accept what Los Angeles is able and willing to offer in a potential sign-and-trade deal.
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On Sunday, the Cavaliers signed forward Mario Hezonja. In the mind of NBA insider Brett Siegel, that means they’re out of the running for Kuminga, to the point where he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he expects Kuminga to be headed to the Purple and Gold.
Giving up only Vanderbilt, who is a good defender and rebounder but extremely limited on offense, would seem like a low price for Kuminga. Vanderbilt has two years left on his contract at $12.4 million and $13.29 million, and L.A. has been wanting to move off his contract, since it is seen as having negative value.
Kuminga is very athletic and a capable scorer, but he has often been a subpar 3-point shooter and an inconsistent defender. There have been questions about his attitude, effort and focus for the last few years, despite his solid career averages of 12.5 points on 50.2% overall shooting and 4.2 rebounds in 22.1 minutes a game.
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He was the No. 7 pick in the 2021 draft by the Golden State Warriors and won a championship with them as a rookie. They benched him this past season before trading him to the Hawks in February.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Insider’s significant update on Lakers’ pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga
