Kumingga is expected to accept qualification quotations, and veterans such as Horford are looking forward to it

Warriors reporter Monte Poole posted a post that after Cameron Thomas accepted the qualification offer and Josh Giddy renewed the Bulls for 4 years and $100 million, he said that Kumingga, who had been stalemate with the team for a long time, is expected to accept the qualification offer:

After more than two months of collective stalemate, the negotiation situation of the four most concerned restricted free agents in the NBA is beginning to diverge. Two of them have voluntarily withdrawn from the "zero quote" market, but Jonathan Kumingga is not included. The deadlock between Kumingga and the Warriors is still unbreakable, but both sides are slowly approaching the final solution – the reason is simple, and every minute and second pass is pushing them to the October 1 deadline.

When Cameron Thomas decided to return to the Brooklyn Nets, Josh Gidey completed the contract renewal with the Chicago Bulls, the first question that came to mind was: Will this affect the negotiations between the Warriors and Cuminga? The answer is a bit complicated.

Let's start with Thomas. Last week, he finally chose to accept a $5.99 million qualification offer from the Nets. According to ESPN reporter Shams Charania, since no other team expressed interest in him, Thomas actually had three choices at the time: first, staying with the Nets in the reconstruction period with an annual salary of $9.5 million, and the contract includes incentive clauses, which can make the salary up to about $20 million; second, signing a two-year $30 million contract, the second year is the team option; third, accepting a one-year qualification offer - this is the only option that allows him to have the right to trade veto and enter a more promising free agent market next summer.

, by contrast, Kumingga has slightly more market attention, but has not yet reached the point where it forces the Warriors to make concessions. Since September, he has faced only two options: either accept the Warriors' $7.99 million qualification offer, or sign a two-year $45 million contract with the second year as the team's option.

, and Kumingga was never interested in the latter.

Kuminga prefers to choose qualification quotes - this offer will give him the right to trade veto and become a free agent next summer; on the other hand, the two-year contracts favored by the Warriors, despite higher salaries, will weaken his initiative in future negotiations.

There may be a third option in theory, but the Warriors' cap space is far less flexible than the Nets.

Look at Gidey's contract renewal: He signed a four-year contract with the Bulls in the reconstruction period, which was reportedly a total of $100 million, which is almost a long-term result. The Bulls improved their treatment based on the initial four-year offer of $88 million, and Gidey's team also made concessions in pursuing a contract of $110 million to $120 million, and finally reached an agreement. There is a clear and key difference between the negotiations between Kumingga and the Warriors, Gidey and the Bulls: only the latter parties have a common demand. Giddy and the Bulls share expectations for each other's future, while Kumingga and the Warriors have different ambitions.

Another difference lies in the team positioning: the Bulls are at the mid-level in the relatively weak Eastern Conference and are focusing on long-term construction. Gidey has been a starter since her rookie season with the Oklahoma City Thunder. In his first season with the Bulls, he has also maintained a 30-minute starting time per game, and is one of the Bulls' hopes to grow into a core lineup in the next two or three years.

On the contrary, the Warriors are in an operational state that is too late. The average age of the team's core members Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green are 36.5 years old, and their goal plans will not exceed the next two seasons.

There is reason to believe that it is even very likely that Cuminga will eventually choose to stay with the Warriors - just like the fourth restricted free agent Quinten Grimes will likely stay with the Philadelphia 76ers. But according to league sources, the difference between the two is that Grimes and the Sixers have the intention to stay together, and it is reported that the Sixers are planning to cut their salaries through other channels in order to complete the contract renewal with Grimes.

Apart from being a restricted free agent, Kumingga doesn't have much similarity with Thomas, Gidey or Grimes. The Warriors will not offer Kuminga the contracts that the Bulls gave Gidey, nor will they have a plan to cut salaries to retain players like the Sixers.

At present, Kumingga's acceptance of qualification quotes is still the most likely result, and the deadline for making this decision is October 1. At the same time, Al Horford and other veterans in the Warriors lineup are silently looking forward to the soon-to-be-final farce of this contract renewal.