It's no secret that Warriors owner Joe Lacob is a big Jonathan Kuminga fan.
So much so, that if Golden State were to give its star restricted free agent a lucrative contract this summer, Lacob likely will have had some influence on the decision.
With the opening of the NBA's free agency tampering window (June 30) less than two weeks away, Lacob joined The San Francisco Standard's Tim Kawakami on the latest episode of "The TK Show" podcast and was asked if it would be difficult to potentially lose Kuminga, who the Warriors selected with the No. 7 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, this summer.
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SIGN UP HERE “Look, it’s difficult,” Lacob told Kawakami. “You get close to all your players. … So yeah, it probably would be difficult to lose someone that’s been here four years; he is part of our organization, and a great guy.
“But this is a business. And we have to do the best thing to build a team. And he is a free agent. He gets to choose. He’s restricted. So we have that on our side. But it’s business and we just have to see how it goes. Let’s see what happens.”
Kuminga, as a restricted free agent, is able to negotiate and sign offer sheets with other NBA teams, which Golden State can match and retain him.
It remains to be seen what Kuminga's market will look like this summer, but Lacob believes the Warriors are in position to match most offer sheets the young forward might receive.
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“I would take a lot for me not to match, for us not to match,” Lacob shared with Kawakami. “But again, we have to look at what makes our team best and that’s really up to Mike (Dunleavy) to make those decisions and to recommend to ownership what to do. It’s going to play out pretty soon; you won’t have to wait too much longer.”
Will the Warriors sign Kuminga long-term, or will they use his restricted free agency to execute a sign-and-trade deal?
As Lacob said, we won't have to wait long to find out.