Cavs still very much in mix for Jonathan Kuminga

By now, you’ve heard the Cavaliers and Jonathan Kuminga continue to be linked. That hasn’t changed.

In fact, if anything, Cleveland still appears to be one of the teams with the best chance to land the young forward if Atlanta decides a sign-and-trade is the way to go.

The Cavs have already met with Kuminga’s camp and league-wide belief is that Cleveland and the Lakers are the two teams most seriously involved.

So the biggest hurdle isn’t interest. It’s money. Kuminga is believed to be seeking more than $20 million annually, and that’s made finding common ground a little trickier than either side probably hoped.

None of this means a deal is close. It also doesn’t mean talks have stalled. This is simply the reality of free agency. These things have a way of dragging into August before someone finally blinks.

From the Cavs’ perspective, the fit still makes plenty of sense. They’ve spent much of the offseason looking for another athletic wing who can defend multiple positions, get out in transition and continue developing alongside an already established core.

Kuminga checks those boxes. Whether he ultimately ends up in Cleveland will likely come down to whether the Cavs, Hawks and Kuminga’s representatives can find financial common ground.

But today, the Cavs remain right where they’ve been for weeks — squarely in the conversation.