Restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga spent all of last summer trying to escape the Golden State Warriors before signing a one-year deal with a team option. Now the 23-year-old forward is struggling to find an NBA job, which may be due to his agent’s unrealistic demands.
Agent Aaron Turner is reportedly demanding upwards of $20M per season for his client on a multi-year contract. That’s a big reason Kuminga is still unemployed, and he wouldn’t be the first Turner client to end up there.
Jonathan Kuminga should see Victor Oladipo as a warning
Turner represented former All-Star Victor Oladipo when he turned down an extension offer from the Indiana Pacers. At the time, Oladipo was coming back from a ruptured quad tendon from 2019 that kept him out for over a year, before he returned late in the 2019-20 season. It was a big contract, but the amount is uncertain, with some claiming the Pacers offered four years and $112M while Oladipo claims it was closer to four years “on the 80ier side of things.”
The Pacers traded Oladipo to the Houston Rockets when they couldn’t reach an extension, and they offered Oladipo a two-year extension for $45.2M — the most they could offer him mid-season. Oladipo and Turner turned down that offer as well, and the Rockets traded him to the Miami Heat, where he played just four games before needing another surgery. For the remainder of his NBA career, Oladipo made $20.6M — far less than either offer he rejected.
Now nearly a month into the NBA offseason, Kuminga has few options left, especially with the Cleveland Cavaliers agreeing with Spanish Liga MVP Mario Hezonja. The Los Angeles Lakers remain interested, but can only add him via a sign-and-trade, which requires Kuminga to sign a contract of at least three years.
Jonathan Kuminga has turned down multiple extensions
Kuminga is still only 23 years old. He’s shown flashes of the talent that made him the No. 7 pick in the 2021 NBA draft, but struggled to earn consistent playing time with the Warriors, thanks to injuries and a lack of outside shooting. Some of that struggle was due to Kuminga’s belief in himself as a potential All-Star scorer, while the Warriors wanted a role player who would crash the boards.
In 2024, the Warriors offered Kuminga an extension worth around $30M per season, but he and Turner rejected it. Instead, he signed a two-year deal for $46.8M, with $23.8M guaranteed. The Atlanta Hawks rejected their $24.3M player option, leaving Kuminga scrambling and jobless.
Ultimately, players made their own decisions, but it’s telling that Turner has been the agent for what’s looking like two of the worst extension decisions in recent history. Not only that, Turner client Terry Rozier
has to forfeit most of last season’s $26.6M after he was indicted on federal charges for bribery and fraud after allegedly accepting a six-figure payment to exit a game early.
Oladipo eventually moved on from Turner. Kuminga may be better off finding a new agent as well.
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