May is almost halfway finished, and it won't be much longer before the summer arrives. The Detroit Pistons likely have a busy NBA offseason looming over the horizon after being eliminated in the first round of the 2024-25 playoffs following a 44-win regular season.
With only a single 2025 second-round draft pick to their name, free agency is the Pistons' best path to upgrade their roster this offseason. Several pending free agents would look great in a Detroit uniform next season, including one recent top-10 pick who the Pistons are being urged to pursue this summer.
Bill Simmons Urges Pistons to Sign Jonathan Kuminga in Free Agency
The Pistons will be looking to bolster a handful of areas this offseason, including their forward depth chart. On Monday's episode of his podcast, NBA insider Bill Simmons named pending Golden State Warriors free agent Jonathan Kuminga as a name worth pursuing for Detroit.
"If I was the Pistons, I'd be like, 'You know what? Let's look at all the tapes of when Kuminga played 30-plus minutes and try to figure out what that looks like on our team,'" Simmons said. "I think he's competitive. I really think there's something there."
Now that his rookie contract has expired, Kuminga is set to become a restricted free agent this offseason. The Warriors had high hopes when they drafted the former NBA G League Ignite product seventh overall in 2021; however, he hasn't met expectations consistently enough to guarantee a second contract in the Bay.
Regardless of where he'll play in 2025-26, Kuminga will be looking to bounce back after injuries limited him to 47 games (10 starts) this past regular season. The 6-foot-8 slasher saw his performance dip compared to his 2024-25 averages, finishing the year with 15.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game with career-worst performances regarding field-goal (45.4%) and three-point (30.5%) success rates.
His efficiency did improve with the arrival of the postseason, proven by his 48.6 FG% and 43.8 3P% through his first seven playoff outings, all while averaging 13.7 PPG. Although that's a solid performance, it still isn't at the level that the Warriors expected from the former top-10 pick.
Nevertheless, some cities aren't a good fit for certain players, and it's possible that the 22-year-old forward could thrive in the Motor City.
After all, as Simmons pointed out, Kuminga would likely play a bigger role in Detroit that could see him play starter-quality minutes. He proved that he could do that when given the chance with the Warriors last year, averaging 26.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and .491/.346/.667 splits in the six games that he played 30-plus minutes in.
Signing a young player like Kuminga likely won't be cheap, but the Pistons have the tools to make a deal happen. Veterans like Dennis Schroder, Malik Beasley, and Tim Hardaway Jr. are set to hit free agency, too, and other contracts can be shipped out to make space if the front office loves the pending Warriors RFA that much.
It might not be long before Pistons fans find out if Kuminga coming to Detroit is a real possibility. The Warriors are down 3-1 heading into Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, meaning Kuminga's outlook might become clearer as early as Wednesday night.