SAN FRANCISCO -- While the Golden State Warriors' front office remains in the late stages of a contentious contract negotiation with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga, the team's veteran stars expressed confidence that a September distraction won't derail their ultimate goals.
"I don't think anyone is winning a championship the first few days of practice," Draymond Green said.
Green, Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler all spoke at media day in San Francisco on Monday morning, marking the start of a season that is considered perhaps the final realistic crack at contention for the trio of mid-30s stars.
Their first practice is set for Tuesday. Kuminga, still unsigned, won't be there, and because of that, neither will veteran free agent additions Al Horford and De'Anthony Melton, whose contracts can't be finalized until the Kuminga domino falls.
"We respect the [negotiation] process," Curry said. "When he's here, ready to work, we expect him to be locked in on doing what he needs to do to help us win."
Kuminga has rebuffed the Warriors' standing offers of two years at $45 million offer or three years at $75.2 million offer because of the team option attached to the final season of both deals. He is still in search of a more player-friendly deal or a possible sign-and-trade elsewhere, though the Warriors have continued to suppress trade talks and signal that they are done improving their offers.
"Like I tell everybody that ask me -- not even in the media, random people, my friends: 'I'm not into all that,'" Butler said. "I hope it gets resolved. I've been in this league going on 15 years now. It will get handled. I know that both sides will be happy in the end. We all love JK."
Kuminga's greatest leverage in these negotiations is the one-year, $8 million qualifying offer, which expires Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. ET. Kuminga would be giving up $15.3 million extra next season, but it would provide him with an inherent no-trade clause and 2026 unrestricted free agency with at least 10 teams with salary cap space, putting the Warriors at risk of losing their No. 7 pick from the 2021 NBA draft for nothing next summer.
"A contract negotiation is a contract negotiation for a reason," Green said. "It's one side trying to get the better of the other side, and when you're trying to do that, just like in a basketball game, tempers flare. Things get heated. Sometimes people get kicked out of the room. Sometimes people walk back in the room. That's just how it goes."
Curry, Butler and Green have been in contact with Kuminga during the later stage of this process. There was hope he would be able to attend a player-organized minicamp at Butler's house in San Diego last week, but business wasn't finalized in time and Kuminga didn't show up.
"Do I think he still wants to be here? Yeah," Green said. "I do think he still wants to be here. He said that to me -- that he still wants to be here."
Without Kuminga, Horford and Melton, the Warriors will have only 11 full roster players at their first practice Tuesday, leaving the coaching staff without three important members of the rotation as season prep begins.
"We'll be tired as hell going through practice," Green said. "That will be a distraction, and that will suck. Because usually as a vet, you can slide to the back and let [the younger players] get a couple more reps. You don't get that privilege. That will suck. But as far as it being a distraction, I don't expect this to go on too much longer."
Kuminga's agent, Aaron Turner, recently told ESPN that the Warriors will get a more engaged, focused version of Kuminga if they give him a player option. Turner has said the option would be viewed as a sign of goodwill and that Kuminga would not only sign the contract but be all-in on the goal of winning a championship. That comes with an implication that Kuminga wouldn't be bought in on the qualifying offer or one of the other deals he has been resistant to sign.
"I only listen to my teammate," Curry said. "I don't listen to agents or anybody speaking on behalf."
Curry talked to Kuminga recently.
"I heard from JK he'll be committed when he gets here," Curry said. "I just know from man-to-man, he doesn't want to have to be in the way of anything. Let the [contract] situation play out. He can speak for himself."
Curry was asked about the inevitability that it would be a distraction in the days and possibly weeks after Kuminga returns.
"He's going to get asked questions," Curry said. "You're asking questions. Everybody is going to ask questions about it. But what happens when I leave this microphone and go in the locker room and us players talk, that's going to be the make or break of how we move into the year with the right frame of mind."