Jonathan Kuminga has worn out his welcome in his previous two stops. Both the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks have opted to move on from him. The idea of Kuminga has been better than the Kuminga on the court. At least so far.
Yet, he is the type of high-upside move the Chicago Bulls should seriously consider.
Chicago needs to be in asset accumulation mode and Kuminga fits that plan
On paper, the Bulls don't need the 23-year-old forward. They already have Caleb Wilson and Matas Buzelis in their forward rotation, who will almost certainly be better than Kuminga next season.
In reality, however, you can never have too many athletic, two-way wings in the NBA. Sure, Kuminga's skill set has been more theoretical than practical so far, but he is still only 23. He has all the athletic and physical tools in the world to be an impactful NBA player.
Plus, it's not like the Bulls have to make a big investment in Kuminga. Whatever deal he ends up signing will be a short-term, prove-it deal. It wouldn't be the worst idea to try to bring him on a team-friendly deal and see if you can develop him.
Chicago currently has an open roster spot and the room mid-level exception, which starts at $9.4 million next season. This may be enough to sign Kuminga, depending on what other options he has on the open market. Given that he is still on the market six weeks into free agency may be telling us about the level of interest in him.
If that is not enough, however, the Bulls can still engage in a sign-and-trade with the Hawks. Atlanta still has Bird rights, so they can give him a bigger deal than the Bulls and then trade him to Chicago. The Bulls could use the salaries of Patrick Williams, Isaac Okoro, Tre Jones, and/or Rob Dillingham to get a deal done.
Alternatively, they could shed some salary in a separate deal. They could create additional cap space through trades to dump some salary. They can then use that to sign Kuminga.
There have been rumors about Chicago's interest in restricted free agents Bennedict Mathurin and Peyton Watson, but there has been little buzz about Kuminga.
While this is understandable, the Bulls have to be in asset accumulation mode. They would be wise to bring in as much talent as possible through the door. Since they are in no rush to try to win, their priority has to be bringing in future assets to develop them. Kuminga fits that bill. Taking a chance on him, even for just one year, would be a smart use of resources.
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