Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga, Bulls’ Josh Giddey remain victim of NBA’s league-wide contract problem

Billy Heyen

Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga, Bulls’ Josh Giddey remain victim of NBA’s league-wide contract problem image

Most of the big-name unrestricted NBA free agents are off the board.

But the restricted free agents? Those are different stories.

Two of the highest-profile RFAs are the Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga and the Bulls' Josh Giddey. Both are still waiting on a resolution to their contract situations.

It might not get better soon, either.

"Restricted free agency around the NBA remains ice cold," writes The Athletic's Anthony Slater.

Kuminga and Giddey are in different spots, but facing the same problem. Kuminga may want a fresh start, while it seems like the Bulls and Giddey want to remain together.

But RFAs usually need an offer sheet or two from an outside team to really kick their own team into high gear. And with almost no available cap space across the league, there are very few opportunities to pick up an offer sheet.

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The Nets were so often linked to Kuminga in part because they have more cap space than anyone else. But they haven't so far actually pursued Kuminga since free agency opened.

If restricted free agency continues like this, it might just result in below-market deals for the likes of Kuminga and Giddey to return to their 2024-25 teams. They'll be hoping a big offer comes in from elsewhere that can kick RFA into high gear.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle