Hawks To Make Jonathan Kuminga Free Agent

Kuminga, 23, spent about three months in restricted free agency in 2025 before finally agreeing to a two-year deal with the Warriors that included a second-year team option and was seemingly designed to make him an in-season trade chip. Sure enough, Golden State sent out Kuminga ahead of February’s deadline, packaging him and Buddy Hield to Atlanta in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis.

After an up-and-down tenure with the Warriors that included flashes of stardom and long stretches in and out of the rotation, Kuminga appeared in 16 games for Atlanta down the stretch, averaging 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 22.1 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .476/.346/.702. His minutes climbed to 26.0 MPG in the team’s playoff series vs. New York.

Declining Kuminga’s option doesn’t necessarily mean the Hawks will part ways with him, since they still control his Non-Bird rights. However, it gives the team a little more spending flexibility entering free agency. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), Atlanta will now have access to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception and projects to be about $27MM below the luxury tax line.

According to Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks (Twitter link), the Hawks engaged in discussions with multiple teams about Kuminga trade scenarios before Monday’s option deadline, but none of those options was compelling enough to pick up his option and move forward on.

While Kuminga will return to free agency just nine months after wrapping up his prolonged RFA saga, the fact that he’s unrestricted this time around will give him more leverage to choose his next opportunity.