In 21, Kumingga was selected in the 7th pick in the first round. Who are the top 6 players? How to develop in the NBA

Until now, the most lively thing in the NBA offseason this year is the game between Kumingga and the Warriors. As a restricted free agent, Kumingga clearly wants to join other teams, but the Warriors are unwilling to let go of people at will. They also want to exchange for some chips by signing first and then changing. According to media Sidery, the current negotiations between Kumingga and the Warriors are completely deadlocked, so it is very likely that they will not make the final decision until September.

Looking back at Kumingga's Warriors' career, he has had highlights and underestimated in recent years since he was selected by the team with the No. 7 pick in 2021. But it has to be said that Cole does not like him as a football player, so his playing time is not stable. Now that the Warriors have Butler, Kumingga's playing time will continue to be compressed. Knowing this, he is determined to leave. However, Kumingga is also a little ungrateful. He has always wanted to pursue a large contract with an annual salary of more than 30 million yuan. Otherwise, the Warriors would have been willing to renew their contract with him last year, so the current situation is inseparable from him.

And as the year of draft 2021, many players in this class signed big contracts in advance last year, which may be one of the reasons why Kumingga was reluctant to reduce his annual salary by 30 million. Then we will take a look at the 6 players who were selected before Kumingga to see how they have developed over the years! Five of them got the big contract they liked.

6. Giddy averaged 14.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists in his career. As a tall point guard who is 2.03 meters tall, Giddy was once called the "Australian Magic". After entering the league, he did show his comprehensive style of play. He averaged 12.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game in his rookie season. However, Giddy's shortcomings are also obvious. He lacks positional combat, shooting, and lacks ability to do without the ball. In addition to being slow in defense, his confrontation is not good, so his positioning on the court is embarrassing.

With the rise of Alexander and Jaylen Williams, the Thunder no longer need a Gideon-like ball holder, so they traded him to the Bulls last year. For Giddy, this is also a good thing. He got more opportunities to play to his advantage at the Bulls. Last season, he averaged 14.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game, and made progress in shooting and defense.

However, Gidey's contract renewal is also in a deadlock. He is just like Kumingga, eager for a contract with an annual salary of more than 30 million yuan, but there are also ball holders like White in the Bulls' backcourt lineup, so the team is not willing to sign Gidey at a high price. According to media Fischer, the relationship between him and the Bulls is even more tense than Kumingga and the Warriors.

5. Sages averaged 12.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals in his career. In 2021, Sages was selected by the Magic. After entering the league, he obviously failed to fully meet the team's expectations for him. After so many years, his offense is still unaware of it. Although Sages averaged 16.2 points per game last season, he set a career high with 16.2 points, as can be seen from his shooting distribution and efficiency, he is not a core player. More than half of his 13.7 shots per game were three-pointers, but his outside shooting percentage was only 31.4%. In addition, while Sages averaged 3.7 assists, he also made as many as 2.9 turnovers per game.

And the Magic themselves saw through Sargers' upper limit, so they only spent a lot of money to trade Bain this offseason, whose offense was much stronger than him. However, what is more tormenting for the Magic is that they signed a five-year, $150 million long contract with Sages last year. In addition, he has one more worrying thing about attendance. In the past four seasons, he has played less than 60 games in the regular season in three seasons, and he has been reimbursed for 35 games last season. Overall, because of offense and attendance, even though Sargus has outstanding defense, the more he studies his contract, the more he feels the premium.

4. Barnes averaged 17.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1 block in his career. Barnes' physical talent can be said to be visible to the naked eye, so even though his skills in all aspects were rough when he first entered the league, he was able to score 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals in his rookie season. In the 2023-2024 season, Barnes made significant progress. He averaged 19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks in the regular season. Especially his three-pointers seemed to have finally found the correct goal, and he averaged 1.7 shots with a shooting rate of 34.1%.

Because of Barnes' progress, the Raptors decisively sent Anunobi and Siakam away to give him a higher tactical status, and the two sides also signed a five-year maximum salary of $224 million in the offseason last year. Last season, Barnes averaged 19.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 1 block per game. Although the overall data has declined, it is still acceptable. The only thing that makes people worry is that his three-point shooting percentage has dropped to the lowest 27.1% of his career. If Barnes really can't practice his three-point shooting, the later running-in with Ingram will be a big problem.

3. Mobley averaged 16.4 points, 9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 blocks in his career. As the only inside player in this lottery show, Mobley was very optimistic at the time. His template was also hailed as a historical defender like Davis and Garnett. Mobley didn't disappoint after entering the league. His performance in defense is indeed outstanding enough, so he was selected for the Best Defensive Team in the second season of his career..

By last season, Mobley was not only selected for the first team of defense and second team of the best team of defense, but also won DPOY. With his help, the Cavaliers were able to achieve the best regular season record in the past 15 years (64 wins and 18 losses). Now it is quite wise to sign a five-year, $224 million contract with Mobley last year. If he renews it this year, the price will probably not be renewed. However, Mobley is not very satisfactory in all aspects. His offense still has a lot of room for improvement, but last season he at least showed hope, especially compared to before, he averaged 17.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.8 three-pointers per game this year's playoffs. Such progress is still worthy of recognition.

2. Greene has averaged 20.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists in his career. At present, Green's NBA career development is even more disappointing than Kumingga. After all, he received more praise and higher expectations than the latter at the beginning. As a result, it is hard to say that he has made any obvious progress over the years. In his rookie season, Green averaged 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, while last season, he averaged 21 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. He is still a single-function and even somewhat inefficient scorer.

Green's offensive problem is that he relies too much on the outside feel. His breakthrough is really bad, especially considering his physical fitness, his shooting percentage in the penalty area last season was only 55.5%. Due to many rounds, Green lacked the ability to use skills, so he was always defended to stop the ball near the middle distance. In addition, he couldn't pass the ball, so he would make many difficult shots, which led to his real shooting percentage being very low. Now joining the Suns, Green and Booker are incompatible with the naked eye, so maybe his current contract is the last big contract in his career.

1. Cunningham, who averaged 22.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1 steal in his career, compared to Green, was also the No. 1 pick Cunningham who was highly anticipated at the beginning. He was not much better than him when he first started in the NBA. The team's poor record and poor attendance made him always ignored even if his personal performance was OK. However, Cunningham proved himself last season. He averaged 26.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 1 steal per game in the regular season. Under his leadership, the Pistons also successfully entered the playoffs, and he was eventually selected for the All-Star and All-Squad.

In this way, Cunningham also slapped the fans who said he was not worth the five-year, 224 million contract last year. Now he is undoubtedly the most potential ball-holding core among the younger generation. Although his dynamic talent is average, Cunningham's excellent ball business and technology have given him comprehensive offensive methods, but his attacking frame has to be strengthened. Last season's regular season 54.1% shooting percentage at the basket was worse than Green. Fortunately, his mid-range and three-pointers are OK, so his overall shooting percentage remains above 45%.