Gui Santos has arguably been the biggest positives for the Golden State Warriors since Jimmy Butler's season-ending knee injury in January, having been rewarded for his development with a new three-year, $15 million contract on Saturday.
Those very factors led to shock among fans though on Monday, with Santos removed from the starting lineup by Steve Kerr and the Warriors after 10-straight starts at the forward spot.
Gui Santos gets the Jonathan Kuminga treatment against the Clippers
Golden State chose to go bigger (and older) against the L.A. Clippers on Monday night, starting veteran center Al Horford alongside Draymond Green, with Brandin Podziemski, De'Anthony Melton and Moses Moody rounding out the group.
Santos still played a prominent role off the bench, but whether coincidental or not, the Brazilian just didn't have the same level of impact that's been associated with his game over the last month to six weeks.
In particular, the consistent scoring that Santos has provided simply wasn't there coming off the bench. He had entered scoring 14 points in 10 of the past 12 games, with a lowest output of nine points during that span.
It was a different story on Monday night. Santos finished with only five points on 2-of-8 shooting from the floor in his 31 minutes against the Clippers. Three of those points game in garbage time in the final three minutes, having previously shot 60.2% from the floor and 44.2% from 3-point range over his past 12 games.
Perhaps Santos was just due an inefficient, disappointing performance from a scoring standpoint, but the fact it came on the back of a removal from the starting lineup is still rather notable.
In fairness, the 23-year-old still had 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals, but the Warriors did need an injection of scoring as their offense again struggled significantly in the absence of Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis.
Gui Santos is the latest Warrior young player to be benched by Steve Kerr
Whether it be Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, Quinten Post or most famously Jonathan Kuminga, Kerr has developed a repuation of regularly -- and often deemed unfairly -- benching young players in favor of veterans.
His relationship with Kuminga was a constant talking point, and even remains so now after the Warriors finally traded their former seventh overall pick to the Atlanta Hawks before last month's deadline.
Yet Santos was supposed to be different. He's been historically viewed as a Kerr-type player -- not someone as talented as Kuminga, but a young player who possesses the winning intangibles that fits with the veterans and within the way the head coach wants to play.
The fact he too has now been benched, and that it subsequently led to his most underwhelming performance in some time, is just the latest Kerr decision that has drew the ire of many Warrior fans.