A split between the Golden State Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga seems imminent, but the relationship between player and franchise may have been flawed from the start as head coach Steve Kerr was reportedly against the front office drafting the young forward.
The Warriors took Kuminga with the No. 7 pick of the 2021 NBA Draft. Kerr was reportedly in favor of the team drafting German forward Franz Wagner, but the front office went a different direction in an effort to gain more athleticism.
Relationship between Jonathan Kuminga and Warriors was flawed from the start
Wagner ended up taken just one pick later by the Orlando Magic, and we will never know how things might have played out differently had the Warriors gone that direction instead.
But that shows there was a disconnect between the two from the start. Kerr had misgivings about how well Kuminga could mesh with the style of play the Warriors excelled at, and it seems those have never gone away during his time with the franchise.
Kuminga has shown spurts of what he's capable of over the years, but it did not jive with the type of pass-heavy offense the Warriors run through superstar guard Stephen Curry. Kuminga is more of an isolation player who can drive to the rim and who likes the ball in his hands, but it's tough to make that style of play work when Curry is on the floor.
For a fleeting week or two at the beginning of this season, it seemed like maybe the code had finally been cracked as Kuminga was in the starting lineup and playing well while the team was winning. But it did not take long for that to change, making the relationship between Kuminga and Kerr sour again rapidly.
Kuminga has been riding the bench in recent weeks, and when an opportunity did come about for him to play earlier in the month, a mysterious injury popped up which kept him out. Everything has pointed towards a trade, something that is now possible and very likely in the coming weeks.
Perhaps things would be different if the Warriors had gone with Wagner. Golden State has needed size as one of the smaller teams in the league, and the 6-foot-10 German product certainly provides that.
In his career he has averaged roughly 19 points per game and has shot 47.5% from the field. He's obviously got more opportunity with the Magic than what he may have done with the Warriors, but Kerr clearly felt that Wagner would be a better fit within what they do.
Instead, the Warriors went with Kuminga and are now paying the price for stalling his development and perhaps more importantly, mismanaging an asset that currently holds very little value.