"Lost faith" proves things are going from bad to worse for the Golden State Warriors

Folks, things have officially gone from bad to worse in the Bay.

As if it wasn't already time to panic following the Golden State Warriors' fourth-quarter collapse against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night, Warriors' forward Jonathan Kuminga expressed disgruntlement with his role after the game, only adding more fuel to the fire.

After sitting the final 18 minutes of Thursday's collapse against the Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors' forward Jonathan Kuminga has 'lost faith' in head coach Steve Kerr.

According to a report from The Athletic, Kuminga has 'lost all faith' in coach Kerr, and "no longer believes Kerr will allow him to reach his full potential."

Kuminga's frustration may seem hasty and reactionary on the surface, but per The Athletic, Thursday's events were only the tip of the iceberg for Kuminga, who has grown increasingly impatient over the past few weeks.

Kuminga recorded another strong performance on Thursday, tallying 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, to go with four rebounds and four assists. The 21-year-old was a team-high +6 in only 19 minutes of action but had to watch the final quarter and a half from the bench, as the Warriors both built and lost an 18-point lead during that stretch.

"He was playing great,” Kerr said of Kuminga after the game.

"“His normal time to go back in would have been around the five-, six-minute mark (of the fourth). [Andrew Wiggins] was playing great, we were rolling, were up 18, 19, whatever it was. So we just stayed with him," Kerr said. "Then at that point, it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. He had been sitting for a while. So I stayed with the group that was out there, and obviously, we couldn’t close it out.”"

In the absence of their defensive ace Draymond Green, Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins are Golden State's two best candidates to compensate for the loss of his defensive acumen, each possessing the length and size to combat some of the tougher defensive assignments on a nightly basis. The problem is that Kerr has been especially hesitant to run lineups featuring the Wiggins-Kuminga pairing, as the combination is a minus-66 in 131 minutes together this season.

With Andrew Wiggins struggling mightily to begin the season, Kuminga took his place in the starting five, seemingly confirming his position as a focal point moving forward. However, as has been the case for a couple of seasons now, Kerr has been unwilling to fully commit to 'JK' during the most critical junctures, leaving both Kuminga and Warrior fans quite puzzled.

“Sometimes, I come out the game not knowing what I did,” Kuminga told reporters after the Christmas Day loss to the Nuggets. “And that messes with my head. It’s like, ‘What they want me to do?’ I can pass and I can do different s—."

Now, it's clear that Kuminga is well past his breaking point, and his recent public denouncing only puts further strain on a player-coach relationship that is well beyond repair.