Klay Thompson's Dad Wants Jonathan Kuminga to Leave Hawks and Sign With Lakers

Mychal Thompson, the father of Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Klay Thompson, wants Jonathan Kuminga to leave the Atlanta Hawks and join the Los Angeles Lakers.

Mychal is a former Laker and does radio for the team. 

“I wish I had Jonathan Kuminga’s phone number… He needs to sign with the Lakers. Talk about a great opportunity for him. He’d come in as a starter… Play on a high-profile team like the Lakers. Everybody around the league is gonna see you. He could run the floor. He can go out and get alley-oop dunks from Luka Doncic. This will set him up for his future if he ends up signing. I don’t know what’s taken him so long.” 

According to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Lakers are still pursuing Kuminga despite signing Ziaire Williams, who left the Brooklyn Nets for Los Angeles. 

The Lakers would have to acquire Kuminga via a sign-and-trade deal because they have 15 players on the roster. 

According to Khobi Price of the California Post, the Hawks are open to a Kuminga sign-and-trade deal with the Lakers. Los Angeles views Kuminga as a good fit next to Luka Doncic, who led the NBA in points per game and total points last season. 

"A part of the Lakers’ free-agency pitch to Kuminga, a source told the California Post, was the Lakers seeing Kuminga as a high-level, starting wing who would complete the vision of their roster reconstruction around superstar guard Luka Doncic," Price wrote. 

The Hawks made Kuminga an unrestricted free agent by declining his team option for next season. Atlanta acquired the forward from the Golden State Warriors last season. 

Kuminga is open to signing with the Lakers, who need a starting swingman after losing LeBron James and Rui Hachimura this offseason. 

In 16 regular-season games for the Hawks last season, Kuminga averaged 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. He helped Atlanta make the 2026 playoffs as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. 

The Hawks lost to the New York Knicks in the first round in six games. Kuminga averaged 13.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in the six-game series. 

An athletic wing, Kuminga enters next season with career averages of 12.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He won the 2022 championship with the Warriors against the Boston Celtics. 

The Hawks have been pretty busy this offseason. They re-signed CJ McCollum and Jock Landale and acquired Devin Carter from the Sacramento Kings and Aaron Wiggins from the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

In the 2026 NBA Draft, Atlanta got Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar. Atlanta appears to have a bright future with Jalen Johnson, McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels leading the way in the post-Trae Young era.

Anthony Slater of ESPN recently reported that "Kuminga could return to the Hawks on a more team-friendly structure than the $24.3 million option they just declined, though such a reunion isn't being actively discussed." Most people believe Kuminga will not return to the Hawks. 

Kuminga's restricted free agency with the Warriors took FOREVER last summer. Let's see how long his unrestricted free agency lasts this summer. 

The Hawks don't seem interested in acquiring Jarred Vanderbilt from the Lakers in a Kuminga deal, so Los Angeles will have to come up with a better package if the team wants to pair Kuminga with Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler.