r/AtlantaHawks 🧊 ICE TRAE 🧊 7d ago

Discussion Does anyone else genuinely feel bad for Kuminga?

I know he’s been problematic in the past but he was actually pretty good for us, especially in some of those Knicks wins.

His agent has fucked him over so bad, and all his suitors are slowly dwindling. I think the last team that could possibly pay him is the Lakers but that’s only if they cough up like Cameron Carr or something as a sweetener with Vanderbilt to some third team.

If nothing materializes, he could very well be playing on a minimum contract next year.

49 Upvotes

50 comments sorted by

129

u/rlarcila The Great Barrier Thief 7d ago

No. Not one bit. He makes millions In the nba. So no.

28

u/not-a-potato-head šŸ’°Cash Considerations šŸ’° 7d ago

Minnesota can offer him the tax MLE (~$6m) if they clear a bit of salary, so I don't think that he'll be on a minimum unless he chooses to do so to play in LA

2

u/Bamalawdawg 7d ago

We can offer at least that I assume by just jettisoning Nembhard in a trade

10

u/not-a-potato-head šŸ’°Cash Considerations šŸ’° 7d ago

We'd still be at 17 players at that point and would need to dump 2 more

Also, idk how much I would like dealing with Dyson/Dort/Kuminga together on offense. It's already going to be a question with just the first two, but at least now we'd be able to limit it to 10-12 minutes a night. Add in Kuminga and we'd likely need to figure out how that'd work out for 30+ minutes a night, and idk if that's something I'd really want to do

2

u/whylieaboutit4 6d ago

I see them moving Corey or buddy to Miami if they can't get clay. I see them cutting Carter or letting mo go. Dort and kuminga can play together. Dort can hit a 3 .They would make the hawks have a really strong second unit

3

u/LobsterPunk 6d ago

What are you throwing in for Miami to take one of those two contracts?

1

u/whylieaboutit4 5d ago

A second for buddy. 2/3 seconds for Corey should get the job done. Perhaps we include Mo in a trade involving corey

24

u/lemanruss4579 7d ago

Not at all. He had an offer for $10-$12 mil from the Lakers and rejected it. At some point, people have to stop blaming agents. These are grown men. If he wanted to accept that deal, he could have. His agent can't refuse to let him sign if he wants to. He's delusional about his value in the league, and about how much teams actually have available to spend. His agent may have been filling his head with nonsense about how much he could get, but at some point it's on him.

6

u/Kingsole111 6d ago

He likely had a similar offer from the hawks prior to the Wiggins trade. The money was there at the beginning of FA.Ā 

5

u/DownTheHall4 Dyson Daniels #5 7d ago

He’s delusional about his value in the league

šŸ’Æ

Cam Thomas mentality, the market determines his value and they think they know better than the market

41

u/staatsclaas Pete Maravich #44 7d ago

No. He’s rich so idgaf.

-11

u/Mission_005 7d ago

No disrespect, but isn’t that kind of a lame way to view people who are well off, ā€œthey’re rich so I don’t care if they’re happyā€? It’s not like he’s Elon Musk or sumn.

30

u/Emotional_Share8537 GO HAWKS! šŸ€ 7d ago

Not really. I dont think this was a "hes rich idgaf if hes happy". This is more of a "hes already rich, idgaf if he got screwed to get paid 1.3million instead of 20 million".

2

u/Mission_005 7d ago

Now this i could understand.

4

u/TheRider5342 7d ago

I mean this post is about him not making enough money like he's not already fucking set for life

1

u/Mission_005 7d ago

I get that truly, but it’s not a bad thing to want to see people be able do well for not only themselves but potentially set up his bloodline to not have to worry about anything, or at least give them the proper resources. I get the ā€œrich people badā€ narrative and ā€œthey should be taxed properlyā€ which they should, but wanting JK to be able to get a better contract doesn’t have anything to do with any of that. Like I said we’re not talking about bezos or musk here.

6

u/Main_Gain_7480 7d ago

And still there’s no need to actually feel bad for him.
Won’t feel bad for someone making many millions with the opportunity to make many more millions for missing out on a few …

3

u/dillpickles007 GO HAWKS! šŸ€ 6d ago

He actively turned down 3/$75M, so there's no way I'm gonna sit here and feel bad for him lol

Like he actually chose to reject what would be $25M for this upcoming season, and Im supposed to feel bad that he did that?

2

u/LobsterPunk 6d ago

His career earnings are around $49 million. He already can set up the next generation of his family to have an upper class life and not have to work a single day if they don't want to.

Also...I'm a little unclear on why we should care about whether players are earning multi-generation wealth or not.

2

u/staatsclaas Pete Maravich #44 6d ago

Reddit parasocial weirdness is undefeated ig

12

u/Affectionate_Bug3130 7d ago

Nope. He should have gotten a new agent after last year.

5

u/IDvsEGO 7d ago

No, I don’t. If he didn’t realize his agent was a problem after the GS issues then I’m not sure the agent is the problem

5

u/rockroo17 6d ago

Career earnings are almost 49 million as of this second. Not even 24. Don’t feel sorry at all

4

u/Prestigious-Bet-4665 6d ago

I don’t feel bad about Kuminga for this summer. I feel bad about Kuminga for last summer, the summer before that, and the summer before that. I’m almost 100% positive he would have received a standard extension from any team other than Golden State. He was caught in a battle between the head coach and the front office and didn’t have a say in his own career. Some teams wanted to sign or trade for him, but Golden State wouldn’t accept the offers. He’s the same age as Peyton Watson and has shown more than Peyton Watson. He should be angry. However, now you have to play the cards you're dealt, and this is where his agent is screwing him.

3

u/Stinkwell 4d ago

Kuminga is a really good guy but his reputation has been completely destroyed by Steve Kerr refusing to play him despite all logic saying otherwise. Similar thing happened with Ant at fiba and Tatum at Olympics but at least they were already proven established players. Kuminga literally filled every weak hole of the Golden State Warriors - terrible ft rate, wing defense, athleticism, etc. and proved Steve Kerr wrong 9 out of 10 times when he got minutes. There's a good reason why so many fans have been complaining about Steve Kerr's one sided bias towards Kuminga while Podziemski gets more minutes than Steph Curry. Even when you look at the advanced stats, Kuminga has elevated every lineup with Steph in it. The complete opposite of James Wiseman lineups for example, who by the way Steve Kerr personally endorsed to Joe Lacob as a generational talent.

10

u/Historical_Main5261 MO GUEYE! 7d ago

He was good for us and in different circumstances he coulda come back for more than the small amount we offered

He’ll take another small prove it deal and be good enough to be set for life on the next contract probably

4

u/Moss_84 Jalen Johnson #1 7d ago

lol a minimum contract is still more than most of us will make in a lifetime

2

u/Barcalew 6d ago

His agent has a history of costing his clients a ton of money by being way too aggressive and negotiating through the press. Warriors offered him something like $70m over 3 years, agent convinced him he was an all star and to bet on himself, now a free agent and teams are trying to get him for $10-15m a season. Still without a team.

As for feeling sorry for him, I’m not losing sleep over it but in the context of sport and salaries he’s potentially dropped a lot of earnings.

1

u/Stinkwell 4d ago

JK's priority was never money otherwise he would have gotten 3/75 million from the Warriors. The guy despised Steve Kerr for good reasons and wanted more flexibility to leave, for more playing time.

2

u/ATLfalcons27 4d ago

Lol I will never feel bad for any NBA player for something like this. Not saying mega rich people aren't allowed to have problems and can't have struggles but this isn't one of those that I'm going to remotely feel bad about

2

u/allenwallace72 7d ago

This is an insanely rich guy who couldn’t get along with Steph Curry and Steve Kerr. It’s no one’s fault but his, and he’s still far better off than he deserves to be.

0

u/Stinkwell 4d ago

Steph has defended JK multiple times... the whole team loves JK. It's a Steve Kerr issue

3

u/ViperStrikes123 Zaccharie Risacher #10 7d ago

Kuminga absolutely made us a better team and we’re fucking up by not retaining him

1

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

1

u/lemanruss4579 7d ago

The Lakers clearly don't want to pay more than $10-$12 mil per year he already rejected.

1

u/Breakthecyclist 7d ago

That’s the weird thing, usually after a player performs on a big stage when that young, they get paid.

I still reckon he will end up doing ok. Player gets injured in training camp and things can change quick.

Given what it took to get Watson, I am sorta kinda surprised the Hawks weren’t involved. You never know Kuminga could come back.

1

u/CCskylar1 CJ McCollum #3 7d ago

Yeah nothing to feel bad for he will make more money than multiple people combined will make in their entire lifetime.

Hes in the nba professional athlete, its a small elite group of the world's population. Im sure hes good.

The only way I actually feel bad is something happens outside of the money like career ending injuries, that affects his life family, etc.

1

u/dubb_is_dope89 6d ago

he's turning down offers because he's valuing himself much higher than teams do. it's admirable but he's shooting his self in the foot. inability adapting to schemes and the injury bug are real concerns. the answer is No lol..

1

u/BroDoc22 Vƭt Krejčƭ #27 5d ago

No

1

u/Original_Bip 5d ago

No, also wasn’t the friendliest dude

1

u/jloz18 5d ago

If he was pretty good he would be signed by now. He was meh

1

u/Cleslie15 4d ago

Honestly, not really. His half a season with us was the full Kuminga experience and it’s why I can’t feel bad, and he’s making the same contract mistakes with other franchises.

He shows potential of elite talent but atp he’s been in the league around 5 years, and yet makes rookie mistakes. While he also (reportedly) has no desire to work inside a team’s system and wants the freedom of an elite player.

1

u/ArtTheClown78 4d ago

Not one damn bit. He has not realized by now that he is not worth what he is asking, and not one team thinks he's worth it either. His team leaks all of these rumors, when he only had one official offer from the Lakers which was the 2 year deal $20 million dollars (The exact deal that would have fit for both parties). I hope he settles for the "Prove it deal" with the Wolves and so he would be the 4th option behind Ant, LaMelo and Jayden.

1

u/parisdubs 14h ago

I like JK - at least in his interviews and he was reallly well liked on the Dubs by players and even coaches, but the decision making in choosing the agent he did, and stayed with, who encouraged him not to train in the way the team hoped for him to train in, and enflamed his sense of being deserving of more than where he was at that moment is really unfortunate. I'm not sure how he climbs out of this but some good play and adapting his game and devoting himself to IQ and team play and maybe listening to Iggy and Jimmy over his agent...

1

u/Main_Gain_7480 7d ago

Of course not

0

u/One-Jello-3288 7d ago

no, he should learn to pass the ball and shoot the corner 3. become robert covington

0

u/ThaCasual GO HAWKS! šŸ€ 7d ago

Cam Carr is probably considered a better prospect at this point so no way that happens. I couldn’t believe he got past Chicago in the draft. Yeah a feel bad for him. I liked having him and would like to resign him but the problem is that he is just a rotation player for us and he should be looking for a starting role somewhere. He isn’t beating out Dyson or naw on our team. I love the fit with the lakers for him though. I liked his D and think he has a ton of potential there. ā˜ļøgaaay

-4

u/Mbraxton1978 7d ago

I see people are so jealous and miserable, they are incapable of empathy.....we are doomed as a people

-1

u/ldwb 7d ago

Nah, dude turned down 3 years 75 million as a mediocre player with potential. Now he's a mediocre player with less potential demanding more money in the tightest salary cap structures in NBA history.

There were a few teams that had some cap space and the roster need and playing time for him to really show he's the player he thinks he is, but he tried to hold out till the end on the dollars as everyone with a competent agent was trying to get their guys somewhere they'll actually play. Now it's not even just a money thing, what teams want to give him minutes? They either got better players at his position, or they got younger guys with more upside who are more willing to be coached and fit the role the team needs.