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Wolves GM: Matt Lloyd: "The opportunity came up to sign Jonathan Kuminga, which again was the product of many, many phone calls and a lot of time investment. My wife asked me at one point, how many times has he called you? She was referencing Jonathan Kuminga's agent. How many times have you been on the phone with him since the middle of July? So I said, okay, I will look, and we went through my phone and we had 94 phone calls between July 15th to the day we signed Jonathan. Anthony Edwards was really instrumental in recruiting him to come here. We had several conversations with him, his representatives, and from Chris Finch to Tim Connelly to Alonzo Gee, who is on our staff, everything just came together."
Jonathan Kuminga decided to sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves over the Lakers after months of speculation and rumors. Do you believe that there's now a legitimate opportunity for you to be a starter for Los Angeles right out of the gate? Ziaire Williams: “Yeah, I do, and I mean that's the GM's job, right to put the best pieces together to try to win a championship. I don't think it's altered whether or not Kuminga was here. I wish him the best of luck in Minnesota, but as a team, we’re focused on the guys we have and making a deep playoff run and winning an NBA championship and I think we have the tools to do so.”
But the Bulls expressed definite interest in Kuminga, according to a league source speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss front-office strategy. Bulls lead executive Bryson Graham was part of the Atlanta Hawks front office that traded for Kuminga last season, and a reunion was welcomed in Chicago with the understanding Kuminga wouldn’t displace the prioritized chips in the rebuild. Per that source, the Bulls wouldn’t promise Kuminga he’d start or close games most nights, considering the franchise’s most coveted young talents are also forwards. This is to say nothing of Kuminga’s playstyle or decision-making reputation. In a role and contract considerate of those things, Chicago was willing to take a swing at his talent.
“Them wanting me to be here, it felt real,” Kuminga said of the Wolves. “They were very genuine people, and these are people you could sit down with and have a conversation. A lot of people, you can’t sit down with and have an actual conversation with about certain things, and I think that’s when I felt the vibe — including Ant. Me and him sat on the phone and spoke about certain things, and that just made me feel very comfortable. I think making a decision was very easy after talking to Alonzo and Tim and the rest of the guys.”
“As long as I come here every day and I’m a winner, a good teammate and a good person, everything will take care of itself,” Kuminga said. “I don’t need to do things that I haven’t done before. I don’t think that’s my purpose or what I’m looking forward to. It’s just trying to win.”
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Beyond winning, Jonathan Kuminga is simply excited to start a new chapter with the Minnesota Timberwolves because of LaMelo Ball. The new Wolves forward has nothing but positive words to say about Ball, even claiming that the star guard's passing ability is superior to any floor general he played with in his young career. "I think his ability of passing the ball," Kuminga said on what excites him the most about playing with Ball during his Minnesota introductory press conference. "I was watching him work out yesterday. I was watching him doing certain things, and just the way he passed the ball, it's incredible. "I mean, I play with so many point guards in my career, but I never played with somebody that could pass as good as LaMelo. So, I think I'm looking forward to it, and I'm excited."
Fullcourtpass: Anthony Edwards after Jonathan Kuminga arrived in Minnesota "Ya'll see what going on. This sh*t over, man. Wrap this sh*t up. This sh*t over this year, man."
League sources tell The Stein Line that Minnesota indeed explored the feasibility of trying to convince Vezenkov to give the NBA one more shot before the Timberwolves' recent signing of Jonathan Kuminga. Sources say no formal offer from the Wolves was made, but that's presumably because the 31-year-old indicated that he was not open to a return.
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“Ant, from what I am told, is very pleased by the Wolves’ offseason,” Windhorst said. “Going to get LaMelo (Ball), making this deal happen for (Jonathan) Kuminga,”
Edwards addressed both sides of the court in his pitch to Kuminga, firstly emphasizing the defensive end, per Krawczynski. "He started with defense and saying 'Hey, if you come here, we're gonna focus on the defensive end; we're gonna be a really tough defensive team to play against with you and me and Rudy and Jaden McDaniels'." The Timberwolves superstar guard then shifted his focus to the offense, where Kuminga felt he was not utilized enough in Golden State. "Then the second thing he told Jonathan Kuminga was, 'I know that you can cook offensively'. He had a very good playoff series against the Wolves when he was with the Warriors two years ago. He said, 'Look, if there's a matchup night where you just have the fourth-best defender on you and you can go at him, I'm gonna say go get him.'
Draymond Green Show: Draymond reacts to recent comments made by Jonathan Kuminga’s agent, Aaron Turner, on the Kevin O’Connor Podcast. “This is a tough one for me because I love JK. And I’ve met Aaron, a great guy. But this is this is no good... Number one, absolutely unnecessary to talk about this man’s pockets on a podcast, […] talking about a guy’s money and how much they lost and what they gained and like talking about somebody’s 11 and a half million dollars, ‘that’s it’… ‘THAT’S IT’?! This ain’t Monopoly money!”
Shortly after Jonathan Kuminga agreed to a two-year deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves, veteran guard Bruce Brown emerged as a potential Lakers target. “I think he’s in the mix for the Lakers, a team that has had some interest in him for several years now,” NBA insider Jake Fischer said during a Bleacher Report livestream.
