Kurtenbach: Kuminga’s agent fumbled negotiations with Warriors, drew ire of Curry

In the courtroom there s a legal claim called ineffective assistance of counsel that a defendant can make when their attorney is so bad at their job that it effectively violates their constitutional rights Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga should look into whether the same claim can be made in NBA contract negotiations The bad news for Kuminga is that it s a lesser deal than he could have received from the Warriors and his agent dragged him and his reputation along on an embarrassing and quixotic quest for self-aggrandizement in the process Aaron Turner got his name out there After Tuesday he should regret that decision One thing is for sure Kuminga s in-over-his-head agent made Steph Curry very very mad I only listen to my teammate Curry commented tersely after he was inquired an eighth question about Kuminga s contract situation at Monday s media day I don t listen to agents or anybody speaking on behalf The quote isn t just a soundbite it s a residents execution of the agent s credibility in this league Kuminga would have been a lot better off had he listened to his legendary teammate and a damn good businessman not the sycophantic calls of a guy desperate to make a name for himself In a summer saga marked by more red flags than Beijing the biggest one emerged just days ago when Turner on that media tour claimed that his client would rather accept the million one-year qualifying offer than agree to a deal with a crew option Related Articles Kurtenbach Kuminga s contract standoff turns Warriors media day into a -man circus Kurtenbach Buster Posey failed with Bob Melvin twice He can t fail the SF Giants again Kurtenbach The ers needed their Million Man vs the Jaguars but he didn t show Studs and Duds Purdy looks injured and the run encounter looks feeble in Niners - loss to the Jaguars Kurtenbach I ll take Brock Purdy over Trevor Lawrence my predictions for ers-Jaguars He genuinely considered he was playing poker with an unbeatable hand his was a master-class bluff I guess he didn t know that the Warriors have -time World Series of Poker champion Phil Helmuth as an off-the-books consultant Turner should stick to Go Fish Not only did Turner end up with a deal that stripped a year of guaranteed salary off the table the Warriors previous offer was reportedly three years and million with a final-year company option but he then had the sheer audacity through a population relations flack or as ESPN calls him NBA Insider Shams Charania to try and spin the second-year group option as a deal that can be ripped up and renegotiated next summer That is not how a company option works The Warriors don t have to tear up anything That would require the deal to have a mutual option or a competitor option which well it doesn t Maybe Turner knows that Maybe he doesn t It doesn t really matter because what really matters is what s on paper and it doesn t suit Kuminga and his alleged commitment to the Warriors which his teammates noted Monday he s pledged to them What this deal genuinely does is simple brutal and utterly transparent It forces Kuminga to keep his bags packed all season long So much for being a foundational piece in the Warriors future Kuminga is nothing more to the Warriors than a commerce piece one that s eligible to be moved come Jan His Warriors legacy will be relegated to fine print the guy they sent to make salaries work for someone else Anyone else perhaps Golden State Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga tries to get a shot off against Minnesota Timberwolves' Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the second quarter of Competition of the Western Conference Second Round NBA Playoffs at the Chase Center in San Francisco Calif on Monday May Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group And make no mistake about it he ll move The implicit no-trade clause that comes with what s effectively a one-year deal like this has reportedly already been waived So Turner does know The only reasonable conclusion Kuminga has been victimized by the reckless headline-chasing incompetence of the very man paid to protect him That sound you hear is other agents on the phone trying to poach Kuminga as a client They ll make chosen strong points and he should listen to them Between now and that fateful January day I do not doubt that Kuminga will be a good soldier a pro No one wants to act up and mess up business value when the end is so near You have to be on your best behavior you re auditioning for other teams Related Articles Seth Curry set to join older brother Stephen in Golden State Reports Warriors Steve Kerr addresses uncertain future with year left on his contract Jonathan Kuminga ends free agency saga by agreeing to multi-year deal with Warriors Reports What happens if Jonathan Kuminga declines the qualifying offer Kurtenbach Kuminga s contract standoff turns Warriors media day into a -man circus At the same time that audition process might be a predicament for the end-of- Dubs Don t expect Kuminga to change anything that he does on the court He ll still be a ball-stopper in the Warriors ball-movement offense and a when-I-feel-like-it defender Buy in The Warriors didn t buy into Kuminga and I can t blame them for that At the same time we won t be able to blame Kuminga when he doesn t buy in for the next sparse months either This is the Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn movie The Breakup Kuminga and the Warriors have decided to go their separate approaches they just have to live together for a minimal months until the forward finds a new place to live Because it s certainly not Turner starring in a reboot of Jerry Maguire