CLEVELAND – After the Cleveland Cavaliers missed out on another LeBron James Reunion Tour, they could turn their attention toward free-agent forward Jonathan Kuminga.
Cavs officials maintained contact with Kuminga and his Cleveland-based agent, Aaron Turner, throughout James’ free agency, and there is mutual interest, multiple league sources told The Athletic. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal team and player deliberations.
Kuminga, 23, became a free agent after the Atlanta Hawks declined a $24.3 million option on his contract for next season. The five-year veteran averaged 12.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and shot 33 percent from 3-point range in 36 games with the Hawks and Golden State Warriors last season.
“Jonathan likes the Cavs, likes (coach) Kenny Atkinson, and (star) Donovan Mitchell likes him,” Turner, Kuminga’s agent, said in a brief interview. Turner said Kuminga is fond of Cleveland generally and spent two months training there last summer.
What signing with the Sixers reveals about LeBron’s mindset
Esfandiar Baraheni
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Kuminga has a relationship with Atkinson from when the coach was an assistant under Steve Kerr at Golden State. While both sides confirmed interest, it is unclear which avenue the Cavs might take to acquire Kuminga if they decide on that path.
As most NBA fans know, salary cap rules are confusing. Basically, Cleveland could comfortably offer Kuminga roughly $6 million this season — the same amount the Cavs would have likely given James. Theoretically, the Cavs could offer Kuminga $15 million under an exception to the salary cap, but doing so would greatly reduce the amount they could pay unsigned veteran star James Harden.
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The Cavs and Harden have yet to formalize a new contract for exactly this scenario — the team needs the flexibility to build its roster for this season. Once the Cavs have a better picture of how the rest of the team will look, they will announce a new deal with Harden that will be for either two or three seasons, depending on how much flexibility Cleveland needs to fill out the rest of its roster.
Kuminga, though, is more interested in a sign-and-trade deal involving Atlanta because he could earn more money that way. Kuminga is seeking a salary much closer to what he would have earned had the Hawks picked up his option, in the neighborhood of $20 million to $23 million. The two teams most often linked to Kuminga — the Cavs and Los Angeles Lakers — would both need to execute a sign-and-trade to pay him anywhere near that figure. Kuminga could also return to the Hawks on a short contract, and other teams like the LA Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks have been mentioned as potential destinations.
League sources, who spoke on the condition anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, said what the Lakers are prepared to offer Atlanta in a trade is underwhelming, whereas Cleveland has potentially more appealing trade pieces. The Cavs have been linked to possible trades of veteran forward Max Strus ($16 million) and point guard Dennis Schröder ($14 million). To execute a sign-and-trade transaction, Cleveland must remain under the NBA’s first salary apron of roughly $209 million, which is why Harden remains unsigned.
The Cavs reached the 2026 Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2018 — and first without James on the roster since 1993 — but were swept by the eventual champion New York Knicks. They lost rotation player and defensive stalwart Dean Wade (76ers), as well as Keon Ellis (Nets) and Larry Nance Jr. (Pacers), in free agency. And they lost out on LeBron.
“There isn’t much left out there,” a league source with knowledge of the Cavs’ thinking said. “They have to get their young guys ready to play.”
Those young players include Jaylon Tyson, a third-year wing who enjoyed a breakout season last year; second-year guard Tyrese Proctor from Duke; and rookie Meleek Thomas out of Arkansas, Cleveland’s second-round draft pick who was voted a top-five player at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.