Nets Only Team With Cap Space to Sign Kuminga Without Sign-and-Trade

The Brooklyn Nets have made their intentions clear with Jonathan Kuminga: they're not interested. Brooklyn is dealing with its own restricted free agency drama with Cam Thomas, and getting involved with Kuminga would only complicate things further.

However, ironically enough, the Nets are really the only team that could go after Kuminga without things getting tricky.

When discussing Kuminga's free agency on X, ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel detailed why Brooklyn is the only franchise that could negotiate directly with the 22-year-old in a back-and-forth dialogue with another social media user.

"No team has money to offer him. Only way a team could get Kuminga, other than Nets with their cap space, is by way of a [sign and trade]," Siegel responded.

At the beginning of the 2025 postseason, Kuminga was a hot name for the Nets. It seemed like a foregone conclusion they'd at least experiment with the idea of adding him—until they didn't.

The Athletic's Anthony Slater reported back in late May that the assumed pursuit wouldn't happen, and that was essentially the closest Kuminga has been to concluding this saga until recently.

Now, the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings are the teams being heavily linked to the 2021 lottery pick, but not without having to jump through some hoops, as Siegel points out.

It's a shame Brooklyn is still in a standoff with Thomas, because Kuminga would be an incredibly intriguing addition—especially since it's the only organization that can actually pay him.

Imagine a lineup of Egor Demin, Thomas, Kuminga, Michael Porter Jr. and Nic Claxton. You've got length, scoring, defense and rebounding. In a weakened Eastern Conference next season, that lineup could make noise.

Alas, it won't happen—at least not without Thomas landing elsewhere. Once the Nets end the drama with their own restricted free agent, then maybe they could explore options to go after Kuminga.

Until then, it's just another hypothetical scenario, as it's been for the last few months.