Kuminga's career-high only exacerbates huge issue Warriors face

The Golden State Warriors poor form continued on Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, but that was through no fault of Jonathan Kuminga who delivered one of the best performances of his career in the 102-92 loss.

Despite coming off the bench behind veteran forward Kyle Anderson, Kuminga produced a virtuso display with a career-high 34 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the floor and 11-of-14 from the free-throw line.

Jonathan Kuminga's new career-high once again came without Warriors superstar Stephen Curry

Kuminga played a team-high 37 minutes in the 10-point loss, having also led the Warriors with a team-high 10 rebounds and equal team-high five assists. Starting center Trayce Jackson-Davis (15) was the only other Golden State player to score more than 11 points, with the visitors limited to 36.8% shooting from the floor and 18.4% from 3-point range against one of the best defenses in the league.

It's the second time this month where Kuminga has broke his career-high in scoring, both of which have come with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green on the sidelines. The fourth-year forward had 33 points against the Houston Rockets on December 5, leading Golden State to an impressive 99-93 victory.

Kuminga also became the youngest Warrior in nearly 15 years to record at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a game, with the Clippers having also been on the receiving end of a 36-point, 10-rebound, 13-assist triple double from Curry on February 10, 2010.

Speaking of Curry, Kuminga's latest performance really only exacerbates the critical issue the Warriors face in trying to blend their greatest ever with their most talented young player. The 22-year-old can be effective when allowed to be a key cog to the Golden State offense, yet is evidently much less effective when playing next to Curry and within Steve Kerr's traditional motion offense.

Kuminga now averages nearly 24 points in the six games Curry has missed this season, which is nearly eight points more than the 16.1 points he's averaging overall. The former seventh overall pick is also shooting 51.5% from the floor, 38.5% from 3-point range and 75% from the free-throw line without Curry, as opposed to 45/32/63 shooting splits on the season.

You'd think Curry's perimeter threat and spacing might actually help the high-flying Kuminga, yet that's clearly not the case. Golden State are now running out of time to figure out if Kuminga can actually be his best-self next to Curry, or whether their better utilizing his value in a trade before the February 6 deadline.

With Kuminga set to become a restricted free agent during the offseason, the Warriors have to be absolutely certain on what they want to do with the young forward and have a resolution by the upcoming deadline.