The 
Golden State Warriors are in a period of flux, walking the line between leveraging their aging star core for a championship, and grooming their crop of promising young talent.
Stephen Curry is fresh off the Olympic performance of a lifetime, leading the United States to a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games. Despite being 36 years old, NBA fans know better than to bet against the greatest shooter to ever play the game.
The Warriors let longtime guard Klay Thompson walk in the offseason, replacing him with younger sharpshooter Buddy Hield to form a new Splash Brother pairing in the Bay Area.
Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins round out the veteran core that last brought a title to Golden State, with both expected to have bounce-back seasons after down years in 2023-24.
But Warriors followers have reasons to be optimistic beyond their aging core. Brandin Podziemski was a surprising standout for the Dubs last season, emerging as a promising two-way guard. Trayce Jackson-Davis showed great signs as a reliable paint presence, capable of operating in pick-and-roll situations with relative ease.
But no Warriors player took the leap in development that Jonathan Kuminga did last season.
|
Jonathan Kuminga – Career Development |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Category |
2021-22 |
2022-23 |
2023-24 |
|
GP |
70 |
67 |
74 |
|
PPG |
9.3 |
9.9 |
16.1 |
|
RPG |
3.3 |
3.4 |
4.8 |
|
APG |
0.9 |
1.9 |
2.2 |
|
FG% |
51.3 |
52.5 |
52.9 |
Kuminga became the go-to bench scorer that Golden State expected him to develop into when they selected him with the seventh overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
But despite his breakout season, the Warriors’ front office is being patient with Kuminga, and are reportedly reluctant to offer the 21-year-old a maximum contract extension just yet, according to The Athletic‘s Anthony Slater.
“The Warriors aren’t currently prepared to give Kuminga a max extension (like the five-year, $224-million deal Franz Wagner got from the Orlando Magic that will start at 25 percent of the cap) or anything that stretches too close to that $44.8 million annual salary, league sources said.”
Kuminga Looking For Massive Payday
Young guard wants max extension
According to a report by Yahoo! Sports‘ Jake Fischer last month, Kuminga is looking for the max extension when his rookie contract is set to expire following the 2024-25 season. The Democratic Republic of Congo native is eligible for a five-year, $225 million contract extension, which teammate and fellow 2021 lottery pick Moses Moody is also eligible for. The Warriors have until Oct. 21, 2025 to make the max contract offer.
Golden State is reportedly comfortable waiting to see how the situation plays out, as they would still like to see Kuminga make improvements to certain aspects of his game — namely, his shooting and playmaking ability. The expectation, however, is that the Warriors will eventually come to terms with the athletic wing.
The club faced a similar situation when they chose to re-sign guard Jordan Poole following the 2022 NBA Championship. Poole was traded to the 
Washington Wizards just one season into the four-year, $128 million contract he signed with the Warriors.
The contract has since aged poorly, given Poole’s struggles with the bottom-feeding Wizards.
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