The absence of Jonathan Kuminga

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Kuminga played 10 minutes in the fourth quarter of the Golden State Warriors blowout humiliation (100-127) of the Los Angeles Lakers. Kuminga finished the extensive garbage-time minutes with the only negative plus/minus on the Warriors bench. Steve Kerr's playoff rotation will continue to decrease as the playoffs go on. The seventh overall pick of the 2021 NBA draft is being squeezed out despite improvement in his second season.

Kuminga’s minutes in the regular season were bumped up from 16.9 minutes to 20.8 minutes and increased his three-point percentage to 37.0 percent.

His length and athleticism on defense could be helpful to counter the Lakers' size advantage, but Kerr opted to give Kuminga meaningless minutes in critical game 2 . In the seven-game series against the Sacramento Kings, he played fewer than 40 total minutes during the 7 game series.

Kuminga said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “But knowing where I’ve come from, seeing how many things that I’ve actually been through that a lot of people don’t know what got me to this point ... I feel like throughout my career, throughout my life, I’ve never been given anything. I’ve seen so many people just get handed stuff. That’s never happened to me.”

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Steve Kerr is a genus teaching a masterclass, and his profound ability to make critical adjustments during a playoff contest or series can not be disputed, with 4 championships in 8 years, and the Golden State Warriors on a quest for another.

Kuminga's meaningful playoff minutes may be limited going forward, but the Warriors' staff is developing the young prodigy into a player with the ability to contribute in a championship playoff rotation. Inclusion in Kerr's postseason roster is an exclusive club which requiring a unique set of skills and abilities.

The development of the twenty-year-old forward has cast a lot of Twitter shade on Steve Kerr's chosen path, but the head coach of the Golden State Warriors is molding the maturing star to join his postseason exclusive club of the future.