The Warriors and forward Jonathan Kuminga, on the surface, tried to make their partnership work. Kuminga appeared in 278 games for Golden State, averaged 12.5 points per contest, and left the Bay Area on Wednesday with a 2022 championship ring.
However, Kuminga never fit perfectly into the Warriors’ equation, and his exit seemed inevitable after a messy restricted-free-agency fight that spilled deep into this offseason. He is now a Hawk, and Golden State coach Steve Kerr was left to reflect on what went wrong with the seventh pick of the 2021 draft.
“I think it was a tough situation for everybody, given how raw he was when he got here and given we were still playing for championships,” Kerr told Anthony Slater of ESPN. “He needed the runway to make more mistakes.”
Kuminga was 18 when the Warriors drafted him and is still just 23.
“For him, it was very tough not being able to make those mistakes,” Kerr said. “For us as a staff, I think it was tricky trying to develop him while we were trying to win. I think it’s as simple as that.”
Golden State spent much of the early 2020s on a dual timeline, attempting to win in the near term while building for the future. Results have varied wildly: the Warriors have missed the playoffs three times this decade, reached the Western Conference semifinals twice, and swiped a title in ‘22 from the Celtics in six games.
This year, Golden State is 27-24, good for eighth place in the Western Conference postseason race.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Steve Kerr Addresses Warriors Trading Jonathan Kuminga to Hawks.
