I don’t know what’s more surprising – that the Warriors extended Ognjen Kuzmic a $1,147,276 qualifying offer or that he didn’t immediately accept it.
Now, it’s too late for Kuzmic.
Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders:
The Golden State Warriors have rescinded their qualifying offer to Ognjen Kuzmic, now an unrestricted free agent @BBallInsiders
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) July 23, 2015
This is the last day teams can unilaterally rescind qualifying offers.
Kuzmic now becomes an unrestricted free agent.
The Warriors still hold his Early Bird Rights, which allow them to exceed the cap to sign him. Given their luxury-tax issues, I wouldn’t expect them to offer more than a minimum salary ($947,276). Then again, I didn’t expect them to extend a qualifying offer.
Kuzmic can pursue a deal with other NBA teams, who might be more willing to offer now that Golden State doesn’t have a right to match. Still, it’s tough to see much of a market for Kuzmic.
The No. 52 pick in the 2012 NBA draft, has played just 164 minutes in two NBA seasons. He’s 7-foot-1 and fairly athletic, but there just isn’t much to go on.
If the Warriors don’t re-sign him, they could look for another big man to play behind Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli and Marreese Speights. They have the minimum-salary exception and a portion of the taxpayer mid-level exception about equal to a minimum salary.
