Why Did Jonathan Kuminga Take $13 Million to Join the Timberwolves?
Two years. Thirteen million. He left the $46.8 million path. Minnesota is the starting job next to Ant.
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You clocked it live. The writeup is late. Help rotates a beat late on the wing and he is already gone downhill. Golden State sat that. Atlanta only ran it for 16 games. Wednesday the Timberwolves agreed to two years and $13 million.
Two years. Thirteen million. No extra year. No extra zero. He left a two-year, $46.8 million Warriors deal — the one with the out this summer — and Atlanta declined the team option in June. Unrestricted. Then he took $13 million to stand next to Anthony Edwards.
The money is the reset. Not a raise story. A starting-job story.
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Golden State drafted him No. 7 in 2021 out of the G League Ignite. Then the first half last season buried him. He asked out as soon as he could be moved. Twenty games in a Warriors jersey. Deadline night sent him to Atlanta and Kristaps Porzingis the other way.
Atlanta was 16 games. 12.3 points. 5.3 rebounds. Then the option came off the books in June and the market got short. Similar offers sat with the Lakers, the Bulls, and the Trail Blazers. He picked Minnesota.
Minnesota is not a hiding place. The Wolves went 49-33, made the playoffs for a fifth straight year under Chris Finch, and got run out in the conference semis. The job next to Edwards — and new point guard LaMelo Ball — is the one that was not there in Golden State and was not 16 games long in Atlanta.
Do not turn $13 million into a punchline. The $46.8 million path is the one that ended when the option got declined. Thirteen million is what a starting wing takes when the last two rooms already told him what the minutes were going to be.
Hold the whole path in one hand. No. 7 out of the Ignite. Buried, then traded, then 16 games, then the option gone. Two years. Thirteen million. Next to Ant. Minnesota is the starting job. The money is how he got in the door.
Sources
- Shams Charania, ESPN, via Yahoo Sports, Aug. 26, 2026: Jonathan Kuminga reaches 2-year, $13 million deal to join Timberwolves after split with Hawks
- ESPN: Jonathan Kuminga a free agent as Hawks decline option
- ESPN: Sources: Warriors trading Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield to Hawks for Kristaps Porzingis
- Spotrac: Jonathan Kuminga contract
- NBA.com player page
- AP / NBA.com: Wolves hope LaMelo Ball's arrival will elevate their entire team
- Basketball-Reference: 2025-26 Timberwolves
- NBA.com Hawks debut still
- NBA.com Warriors action still
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