Mystery continues, Sam Gordon of SF Chronicle confirms it’s Seth Curry, one-year deal.
[[ The Golden State Warriors are signing free-agent guard Seth Curry to a one-year deal, the Chronicle confirmed. Curry is the brother of Stephen and also one of the NBA’s top 3-point shooters. ]]
If Exhibit 9 contracts don't count towards the cap (that is my understanding from online explainers), could the warriors offer him the missing money from a Nov. start date as his salary during the training camp? Seems like a pretty big loophole that the CBA probably covers somehow. I know the contract doesn't count, but maybe the salary that, in the end, is paid during training camp does count?
I'm a bit surprised that Kuminga camp ended up blinking first (it seemed the answer was just to remove the option years altogether and guarantee it) but based on their positioning through Shams, seems like they calculated that the potential downside of anchoring to ~26 million on any extension was worth the extra ~15 or so million guaranteed on the front end. This also seems a bet that anyone willing to trade for Kuminga as an asset is going to want to actually extend him and not live through another contract year headache... which seems like a risk to me (he could just be traded as salary filler)
That being said, the qualifying offer would have been a disaster for the Warriors, so I'm glad they were able to avoid that scenario.
As for the basketball fit, I think the "Kuminga can't play with Butler/Green" was vastly overblown from small sample sizes and I do think there's plenty of reasons it can work if committed to giving it a chance. If the Warriors want to optimize their current roster for health and playoffs (and Kuminga's trade value), they should strongly consider having Green come off the bench, which allows him to bring his minutes down a bit and 'anchor' a bench unit that is going to be quite young otherwise (As of now, something like Post - Kuminga - Moody - Melton/Payton - Podz) while still closing games.
Can't sign anyone to a TPMLE if they're over the second apron, so it can't be that. The only way the money would fit under the second apron would be Horford taking less money anyways. Siegel suggested maybe Seth's a training camp contract where he would be cut and then re-sign on November 15.
On the one hand, I'm a firm believer that Seth Curry is not washed. Some point to his lower ppg averages of recent times, but thats almost entirely a function of his lower minutes. Purely in terms of his offense, his 7 ppg on 62 TS% hitting 46% from deep in 16 mpg is quite excellent. Defensively, he's not a good defender but thats okay on a team with Butler/Dray/Horford/Melton/Podz/Moody/GP2. Not to mention, he's a proven playoff performer whose consistently elevated his game when given the opportunity.
On the other hand, we don't need him on a team that has a glut of guards in Curry/Hield/Melton/Podz/GP2. I'm conflicted.
I see your points. There were a bunch of times last season where I thought we just didn't have quite enough firepower either for the points themselves or to open the floor a bit more. A large part of that may have been the Melton injury, but having some back-up shooting, especially in the regular season, seems like a good idea (unless I'm over correcting from last year). I agree that our defensive minded folks should help cover his deficiencies...maybe our scheme that, over time, has worked out well to allow Steph to find ways to improve his own defensive pluses and minimize his minuses will also help Seth? Of course Steph has had years in the system and has put a ton of work into it too, so maybe I'm asking too much of Seth...but if he gets to play on court occasionally with Green/Butler/Horford...maybe his numbers look better than they have before?
I guess I'm not particularly concerned with lacking firepower because we've already added Horford/Melton who provide shooting AND defense. Not to mention, we have Butler for the whole season now.
What I am concerned about is lacking offensive initiation abilities other than Curry/Butler. A flaw which Seth's addition does nothing to address. Oh well, at least he provides some playoff experience which could be useful for chemistry.
Yeah, but why would we consider them exclusively as 3's? Its not something to be debated, they can and have played well in both SG/SF roles for the Warriors. Surely, roster building should be reflective of actual skillsets rather than artificially restricting designations to have more on-paper roster balance.
I agree with your reservations. It's a small team along the wings. But if you group by ball-handler-wing-big, the imbalance isn't as pronounced as by classical positions. There's certainly NBA talent 12-13 deep along the bench as well.
Let’s see how the math shapes up. I feel like leaving absolutely no flexibility under the apron is a bad move. We also have a super unbalanced roster (lots of small 2s and 4s)
I wonder what makes the second year likely for a team to decide to "rip it up" rather than deploy it as a "team option"...and would this "rip it up" design hold only for the Warriors or also for a team he might be traded to? Is it a relatively "bad" deal for a team option then? Or is this more like an "understanding" his team has with the Warriors front office that they would agree to "rip it up" instead of using it? Does Kuminga somehow have a veto over the "team option", thereby making it kind of a team/player option? Sounds like some intriguing contract gymnastics (or extra-contract understandings only with the Warriors?) may be in there!
There was so much reporting about JK genuinely feeling that it was unfair that, after he'd been a good sport about them making him play the last year w/o a contract, the team was taking such advantage of the abnormally weak free agent market. Need to see the details, but it kinda sounds like the big difference between this deal and the earlier one might be that the Warriors have pinky promised that if he breaks out, they'll do the honorable thing and give him a more fitting contract. That might have been enough for JK, bless his soul.
So... is it too early to start looking at trade candidates? Norm Powell, Aaron Gordon, KCP, Cam Johnson, Malik Monk, Villon Brooks, Marcus Smaht... all in play!
I wish there was a way to bet against a trade. I think consensus is wrong and the chances of JK being traded this season are low. Between the political (with a deal signed, JK and the team are finally on the same page) and the practical (Al Horford & QP meaningfully change Kerr's chessboard), I think JK is going to probably have a strong season and the FO is gonna be back in "i just can't quit you" mode.
If the bridges weren't burned, Barnes would be my top pick. Jrue is intriguing. Khris Middleton? Tobias Harris?
If you wanted to be totally crazy, I would consider JK/Buddy/Moody for Lauri or Lavine if the team needed a midseason shakeup. Not throwing a boatload of picks.
I think we're too close to the 2nd apron to go up, so we'd have to do something like swap JK & Horford for Murphy and a rookie min guy or something... but sure!
Love the “Watergate” reference, especially since I was hanging on every Kuminga rumor whispered in every shadowy Bay Area parking garage through the sleepy off season.
I'm sure it was done a couple of weeks ago, but JK's team wanted to dig in the couch cushions one more time just to be sure they didn't miss some last bit of leverage to get another dollar out of the deal, or see if the Kings were gonna up their S&T offer enough to get the Warriors to take it.
Not sure what he has to be forgiven for either. He participated in contract negotiations, utilized the leverage that was provided to him by the collective bargaining agreement, and now signed his contract.
Kuminga was always going to lay this one up and in.
He never had a chance of dunking it, the defense was too good; but he was determined and had the ball and the other team didn't want to foul.
With 24 seconds on the clock, the defender was giving him no space at all, but with .04 left on the clock, he drove and kissed it off the glass.
The defender immediately inbounded and is still looking to win the game, that was just a bucket.
So Kuminga gets to do a quick muscles flex, but then has to get back on defense; the other team gets to counterattack and isn't worried about a bucket -- they're trying to win a championship.
Maybe Kuminga and his agent get to save face by saying they got an extra few million, but for all intents and purposes, they folded and signed the same deal that the Warriors have been offering from the very beginning.
They didn't "fold", they never had any leverage to really decline the "good enough" offer on the table. They tried all they could to get something better, and put in an admirable amount of effort. I think Turner gets to use this positively in his pitch to future clients. "We were in a tough spot with the @#$@$# RFA situation, but we made sure we got everything we could for Kuminga, and didn't burn any bridges, and we'll do the same for you."
Ultimately true. Couldn't get 2 things they wanted, so got what they could. And it maintains the best possible compromise of having numerous exit paths at multiple exit points. Through it all, JK has to play his heart out, and for The Team - *whichever* team he's on.
Yeah, it keeps *some* pressure on the Warriors to trade him. But the Warriors won't really feel pressure to trade him until the trade deadline in Feb of 2027... a whole season and a half away.
Mystery continues, Sam Gordon of SF Chronicle confirms it’s Seth Curry, one-year deal.
[[ The Golden State Warriors are signing free-agent guard Seth Curry to a one-year deal, the Chronicle confirmed. Curry is the brother of Stephen and also one of the NBA’s top 3-point shooters. ]]
https://bsky.app/profile/sfchronicle.com/post/3m23tmz63bu22
Seth deal is exhibit 9?
https://www.reddit.com/r/warriors/comments/1nuu6fx/updated_look_at_the_warriors_202526_cap_sheet/#lightbox
That makes me feel a lot more comfortable. Now, sign Ben Simmons to an exhibit 9 contract as well.
If Exhibit 9 contracts don't count towards the cap (that is my understanding from online explainers), could the warriors offer him the missing money from a Nov. start date as his salary during the training camp? Seems like a pretty big loophole that the CBA probably covers somehow. I know the contract doesn't count, but maybe the salary that, in the end, is paid during training camp does count?
Or maybe we just got him a no-action-required "endorsement" deal with Rakuten to make up for signing him officially only in November?
I'm a bit surprised that Kuminga camp ended up blinking first (it seemed the answer was just to remove the option years altogether and guarantee it) but based on their positioning through Shams, seems like they calculated that the potential downside of anchoring to ~26 million on any extension was worth the extra ~15 or so million guaranteed on the front end. This also seems a bet that anyone willing to trade for Kuminga as an asset is going to want to actually extend him and not live through another contract year headache... which seems like a risk to me (he could just be traded as salary filler)
That being said, the qualifying offer would have been a disaster for the Warriors, so I'm glad they were able to avoid that scenario.
As for the basketball fit, I think the "Kuminga can't play with Butler/Green" was vastly overblown from small sample sizes and I do think there's plenty of reasons it can work if committed to giving it a chance. If the Warriors want to optimize their current roster for health and playoffs (and Kuminga's trade value), they should strongly consider having Green come off the bench, which allows him to bring his minutes down a bit and 'anchor' a bench unit that is going to be quite young otherwise (As of now, something like Post - Kuminga - Moody - Melton/Payton - Podz) while still closing games.
I don’t think it’s at all surprising tbh, the only “leverage” Kuminga had was “I’ll take less money and be upset about it on the bench”.
Shams: Free agent guard Seth Curry has agreed to a one-year deal with the Golden State Warriors, sources tell ESPN.
https://xcancel.com/ShamsCharania/status/1973179696084033677
Okay, I guess that means GSW are over the second apron? Unless one of the numbers reported is slightly different
Can't sign anyone to a TPMLE if they're over the second apron, so it can't be that. The only way the money would fit under the second apron would be Horford taking less money anyways. Siegel suggested maybe Seth's a training camp contract where he would be cut and then re-sign on November 15.
Cut and re-sign makes the most sense, with Shams being wrong/inaccurate. But waiting for the dust to settle on the details
I'm in the difficult position.
On the one hand, I'm a firm believer that Seth Curry is not washed. Some point to his lower ppg averages of recent times, but thats almost entirely a function of his lower minutes. Purely in terms of his offense, his 7 ppg on 62 TS% hitting 46% from deep in 16 mpg is quite excellent. Defensively, he's not a good defender but thats okay on a team with Butler/Dray/Horford/Melton/Podz/Moody/GP2. Not to mention, he's a proven playoff performer whose consistently elevated his game when given the opportunity.
On the other hand, we don't need him on a team that has a glut of guards in Curry/Hield/Melton/Podz/GP2. I'm conflicted.
I see your points. There were a bunch of times last season where I thought we just didn't have quite enough firepower either for the points themselves or to open the floor a bit more. A large part of that may have been the Melton injury, but having some back-up shooting, especially in the regular season, seems like a good idea (unless I'm over correcting from last year). I agree that our defensive minded folks should help cover his deficiencies...maybe our scheme that, over time, has worked out well to allow Steph to find ways to improve his own defensive pluses and minimize his minuses will also help Seth? Of course Steph has had years in the system and has put a ton of work into it too, so maybe I'm asking too much of Seth...but if he gets to play on court occasionally with Green/Butler/Horford...maybe his numbers look better than they have before?
I guess I'm not particularly concerned with lacking firepower because we've already added Horford/Melton who provide shooting AND defense. Not to mention, we have Butler for the whole season now.
What I am concerned about is lacking offensive initiation abilities other than Curry/Butler. A flaw which Seth's addition does nothing to address. Oh well, at least he provides some playoff experience which could be useful for chemistry.
It sure makes a lot more sense if you consider Buddy and Moody exclusively 3's. Or if GPII grew 5 inches.
Did GPII started eating the same things as Lively then? Awesome!...finally growing into his Center role.
Yeah, but why would we consider them exclusively as 3's? Its not something to be debated, they can and have played well in both SG/SF roles for the Warriors. Surely, roster building should be reflective of actual skillsets rather than artificially restricting designations to have more on-paper roster balance.
I agree with your reservations. It's a small team along the wings. But if you group by ball-handler-wing-big, the imbalance isn't as pronounced as by classical positions. There's certainly NBA talent 12-13 deep along the bench as well.
If it’s what Steph wants, fine.
Let’s see how the math shapes up. I feel like leaving absolutely no flexibility under the apron is a bad move. We also have a super unbalanced roster (lots of small 2s and 4s)
I can't imagine they would go over the second apron for an extra month of Seth Curry so I assume the Warriors did the math properly
interesting...
or maybe an MDJ-knows-the-CBA-$-for-$ loophole somewhere?
Maybe JK’s contract escalates just enough?
MDJ new off-season grade: A++
Whats the depth chart looking like ?
I wonder what makes the second year likely for a team to decide to "rip it up" rather than deploy it as a "team option"...and would this "rip it up" design hold only for the Warriors or also for a team he might be traded to? Is it a relatively "bad" deal for a team option then? Or is this more like an "understanding" his team has with the Warriors front office that they would agree to "rip it up" instead of using it? Does Kuminga somehow have a veto over the "team option", thereby making it kind of a team/player option? Sounds like some intriguing contract gymnastics (or extra-contract understandings only with the Warriors?) may be in there!
(sorry for the repost from last thread)
There was so much reporting about JK genuinely feeling that it was unfair that, after he'd been a good sport about them making him play the last year w/o a contract, the team was taking such advantage of the abnormally weak free agent market. Need to see the details, but it kinda sounds like the big difference between this deal and the earlier one might be that the Warriors have pinky promised that if he breaks out, they'll do the honorable thing and give him a more fitting contract. That might have been enough for JK, bless his soul.
So... is it too early to start looking at trade candidates? Norm Powell, Aaron Gordon, KCP, Cam Johnson, Malik Monk, Villon Brooks, Marcus Smaht... all in play!
https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/players.html
I wish there was a way to bet against a trade. I think consensus is wrong and the chances of JK being traded this season are low. Between the political (with a deal signed, JK and the team are finally on the same page) and the practical (Al Horford & QP meaningfully change Kerr's chessboard), I think JK is going to probably have a strong season and the FO is gonna be back in "i just can't quit you" mode.
I was looking at players that seem like realistic targets/fit a position of need . . .
Derozan, Vucevic, Claxton, Nurkic seem to fit the bill.
If the bridges weren't burned, Barnes would be my top pick. Jrue is intriguing. Khris Middleton? Tobias Harris?
If you wanted to be totally crazy, I would consider JK/Buddy/Moody for Lauri or Lavine if the team needed a midseason shakeup. Not throwing a boatload of picks.
Barf, barf, ehhh, barf.
Agreed. Its not a particularly inspiring set of realistic targets.
However, thats the great part about this two year deal . . . we got time!!
Dare I say… Trey Murphy? without the BYC all we have to do is throw in picks. Maybe that’s the all in move.
I think we're too close to the 2nd apron to go up, so we'd have to do something like swap JK & Horford for Murphy and a rookie min guy or something... but sure!
I'd give up anybody on the roster not named Steph Curry for TM3.
Geebus. Finally.
story checks out on the only page that matters: https://hasjonathankumingasignedyet.com/
Thanks to the DNHQ for finding this crucial site for me.
Love the “Watergate” reference, especially since I was hanging on every Kuminga rumor whispered in every shadowy Bay Area parking garage through the sleepy off season.
"We were eyeball to eyeball and I think the other fellow just blinked."
- MDJ at the conclusion of the Kuminga Contract Crisis
My sources at ESPN tell me that Al Horford is still alive and able to trot, but that running is a lot to ask from a 70 year old man. Savvy, though.
One would think they could have done this exact deal weeks ago, but it is finally over.
I still think he could end up being the difference maker this season. After all the negativity time to be hopeful and positive for awhile at least.😁
I'm sure it was done a couple of weeks ago, but JK's team wanted to dig in the couch cushions one more time just to be sure they didn't miss some last bit of leverage to get another dollar out of the deal, or see if the Kings were gonna up their S&T offer enough to get the Warriors to take it.
Business is business but I believe he has just created extremely high expectations and scrutiny for his play by the general public and all the media.
Let’s hope he lives up to those. All will be forgotten if he plays at the level he says he is at.
lol. yeah, cause he was totally playing without any scrutiny before.
Not sure what he has to be forgiven for either. He participated in contract negotiations, utilized the leverage that was provided to him by the collective bargaining agreement, and now signed his contract.
What exactly did he do that begs forgiveness?
Never in doubt.
Kuminga was always going to lay this one up and in.
He never had a chance of dunking it, the defense was too good; but he was determined and had the ball and the other team didn't want to foul.
With 24 seconds on the clock, the defender was giving him no space at all, but with .04 left on the clock, he drove and kissed it off the glass.
The defender immediately inbounded and is still looking to win the game, that was just a bucket.
So Kuminga gets to do a quick muscles flex, but then has to get back on defense; the other team gets to counterattack and isn't worried about a bucket -- they're trying to win a championship.
Calendar updated with a big smiley face on 1/15/26.
Maybe Kuminga and his agent get to save face by saying they got an extra few million, but for all intents and purposes, they folded and signed the same deal that the Warriors have been offering from the very beginning.
It's not really folding, it's just a compromise each side made based on the leverage they had. Seems not particularly surprising.
They didn't "fold", they never had any leverage to really decline the "good enough" offer on the table. They tried all they could to get something better, and put in an admirable amount of effort. I think Turner gets to use this positively in his pitch to future clients. "We were in a tough spot with the @#$@$# RFA situation, but we made sure we got everything we could for Kuminga, and didn't burn any bridges, and we'll do the same for you."
I wouldn’t hire him.
Ultimately true. Couldn't get 2 things they wanted, so got what they could. And it maintains the best possible compromise of having numerous exit paths at multiple exit points. Through it all, JK has to play his heart out, and for The Team - *whichever* team he's on.
Yeah, it keeps *some* pressure on the Warriors to trade him. But the Warriors won't really feel pressure to trade him until the trade deadline in Feb of 2027... a whole season and a half away.
They asked for a lot more and got an extra few million. Not too shabby for both sides.