Rob Pelinka Won’t Stop Calling: Lakers Pushing Hard for Warriors Wing Jonathan Kuminga
Rob Pelinka doesn’t take no for an answer. And right now, the answer he is chasing is Jonathan Kuminga.
According to multiple league sources, the Lakers president has been repeatedly calling the Golden State Warriors about the young forward, trying to find a framework that gets Kuminga to Los Angeles. Kuminga is a restricted free agent, and the Warriors have been slow-playing his market all summer. Pelinka has decided he is going to force the issue.
Welcome to life without LeBron James.
The Lakers roster looks completely different than it did six months ago. LeBron is gone. Luka Doncic is now unquestionably the face of the franchise. The pieces around him need to fit a specific kind of vision, one built around ball movement, floor spacing, and a real second scoring option who can carry stretches when Luka needs a rest. Kuminga checks a lot of those boxes.
He is 22 years old. He is an explosive athlete who can attack a closeout and finish above the rim. He has flashed real playoff moments when the Warriors have actually let him play. And he is a wing, which is exactly what Los Angeles needs to survive in a Western Conference full of Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, and Anthony Edwards.
The problem is money.
Kuminga wants to get paid. He is looking for something north of the mid-level exception at minimum, which puts his target salary around $20 million a season. The Warriors reportedly offered around two years and $20 million total, which was a lowball. The Lakers, meanwhile, are working with a tight cap sheet and need to shed a contract before they can absorb anything close to what Kuminga will actually cost.
That is where it gets complicated. Pelinka’s calls to Golden State likely include creative sign-and-trade frameworks, third teams to facilitate salary, and possibly a Lakers player like Rui Hachimura or Gabe Vincent going the other way. None of it is simple. All of it is being explored.
Golden State’s position is straightforward. They want fair value. If Kuminga leaves, the Warriors want to walk away with a rotation player, a first-round pick, or both. What they don’t want is to lose him for nothing after developing him for four years.
Steve Kerr has never fully committed to Kuminga’s development the way the young forward wanted. That friction is real, and it is a big part of why this saga has dragged on for so long. Kuminga’s camp wants a fresh start. The Lakers want a young athletic wing next to Luka. On paper, this trade makes sense for everyone.
Making it work on the salary sheet is another matter.
The other layer here is Pelinka’s aggressiveness. He is not calling once and moving on. He is calling, calling again, and calling a third time. That kind of persistence usually means one of two things. Either you get your guy, or you overpay to get him. Sometimes both.
For Los Angeles, this is bigger than just adding a wing. This is the first real test of the Luka era. If Pelinka can pry Kuminga away from Golden State and pair him with Doncic, the Lakers suddenly have a young core that can grow together. If he can’t, the roster around Luka looks a lot thinner than it needs to be.
The phone is going to keep ringing. The Warriors are going to keep listening. And somewhere in the middle, a deal might actually get done before the season starts.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
