Jonathan Kuminga turned down a richer, longer offer from the Los Angeles Lakers this week to sign a two-year, $12.4 million (£9.1 million) deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves, a rare public bet on himself by the 23-year-old forward.
Kuminga agreed to the deal on Wednesday, his agent Aaron Turner confirmed. The contract includes a player option on the second season, giving Kuminga the choice to re-enter free agency next summer with far more control over his future.
The Lakers chased him hardest in the opening weeks of free agency, offering a starting role next to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves worth more than $12 million (£8.8 million) a year over three years. Kuminga passed on the guaranteed money and the longer term to take a shorter, cheaper contract in Minnesota.
The Lakers and Hawks held repeated sign-and-trade talks, but the three sides could never agree on terms, which opened the door for Minnesota to sign Kuminga outright.
For a 23-year-old, the choice reads as a wager on his own value. By taking two years with a player option instead of three guaranteed seasons, Kuminga keeps the timing of his next contract in his own hands, not the team's.
He joins a side built to win now. Kuminga will fill the vacant starting power forward slot next to Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Jaden McDaniels, and Rudy Gobert on an established Western Conference contender.
Minnesota signed him using its taxpayer mid-level exception, worth about $6.1 million (£4.5 million), and the strongest financial tool it had left. Team president Tim Connelly flew to Miami for a four-hour meeting with Kuminga this month, and Edwards led what the forward's camp called a full-court recruiting push.
The fit answers a clear need. Minnesota lost size at power forward over the off-season, and Kuminga gives head coach Chris Finch an athletic scorer who can defend several positions.
The signing carries an immediate cost. Kuminga's salary pushes Minnesota against the second apron, the National Basketball Association's hard cap on spending, so the club must shed a contract before it can finalise the agreement.
Reserve wing Josh Green is the player most likely to go. Minnesota will either trade Green or waive and stretch his roughly $14.7 million (£10.8 million) salary before Saturday's deadline, league sources said. The team still needs to add another player afterwards to reach the league minimum of 14.
The move closes a turbulent stretch for Kuminga. Golden State drafted him seventh overall in 2021, and he won a title in 2022, but a bitter contract standoff last summer ended in a two-year deal and a February trade to the Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta declined his club option in June, sending him back to free agency.
There is a twist in the destination. Kuminga's finest playoff run came against Minnesota, when he averaged 20.3 points a game in a 2025 second-round series for the Warriors.
Now he joins the team he nearly beat, betting that a season next to Edwards will price him higher than anything on the table today.
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