While the Golden State Warriors suffered a heartbreaking 124-119 loss to the L.A. Clippers that has pushed them to the Play-In Tournament, it may be someone who didn't play on Sunday that emerged as the biggest talking point.
After struggling to re-integrate to a new-look Warrior team following a long-term ankle injury, Jonathan Kuminga was stunningly left out of the rotation by Steve Kerr for the pivotal regular season finale.
The Warriors have fumbled a huge Jonathan Kuminga trade opportunity
The DNP may not be a major shock in itself given Kerr's recent comments to the media in which he claimed Kuminga, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green couldn't play together, while also admitting his team was in a better place a few weeks ago -- seemingly referring to a period prior to Kuminga's re-introduction from a 31-game absence.
However, the fact Kuminga is getting DNP'd at the end of his fourth year, and at a time where he's about to hit restricted free agency in the offseason, certainly makes for a bizarre set of circumstances.
Whether you believe this is a Kuminga problem or a Kerr one, there's little doubt the franchise has fumbled this situation and has missed out on a potentially season-altering acquisition in the process.
How many times could Kuminga have been traded over the years for something of real value, only for Golden State to have retained faith in the young forward's future potential? Where has that got them now? To a point where Kerr won't even play Kuminga at the end of his fourth year...
While it's not easy to pinpoint one specific Kuminga trade situation, it's not hard to envisage one of a host of difference-making players having been utilized by Kerr on Sunday. The Warriors could have done with a Cam Johnson rather than Gary Payton II in the closing lineup, or had more of an interior presence with a legitimate center like Myles Turner.
Again, it's not as simple as replacing Kuminga with Johnson, Turner or anyone else, but the fact remains that Golden State left their former seventh overall pick to rot on the bench in a near must-win game to secure a playoff spot.
So what about the future potential? Are the Warriors going to pay Kuminga a big sum in the offseason based on that? It's almost impossible to see the 22-year-old coming back on the evidence of this latest Kerr decision.
They may instead choose to not match an offer sheet and let Kuminga walk for nothing. Either way, it's a horrible case of asset mismanagement that may have cost the Warriors Sunday's game, and may actually cost them any real shot of a championship this season.
