The Jonathan Kuminga saga with the Golden State Warriors may be technically over now that he’s with the Atlanta Hawks, but the way the team handled the whole situation will likely be re-litigated and reexamined for years. Had the franchise gone with head coach Steve Kerr over owner Joe Lacob, they may have another title by now.

At this point it is well-documented that Kerr wanted to go with Franz Wagner over Kuminga in the 2021 NBA Draft. Lacob was partial to Kuminga and that’s who the Warriors selected, even though his views on the young forward and his potential role on the team wasn’t in alignment with how many others in the organization felt.

It’s always tough to go back and imagine an alternate history, but what if the Warriors had gone with Kerr over Lacob? If Wagner was a Warrior, would that mean that the team would have won another title by now?

Warriors cannot help but regret choosing Jonathan Kuminga over Franz Wagner

Obviously, Wagner has put up far better numbers than Kuminga at this point in his career. The 24-year-old from Germany has averaged 15 points or more in every season, including nearly 25 per game last season with the Orlando Magic.

Wagner is 6-foot-10 and could have given the Warriors the size that they have been missing for years. He’s not a rim protector or huge defensive presence, but he still could have fit within Golden State’s scheme and supported the existing cast on both ends of the floor.

The problem with Kuminga is that he wanted to be a star while Kerr saw him as more of a role player. That dynamic never fully changed and led to the problems that ultimately resulted in the team trading him. 

Had the Warriors drafted Wagner, there is an argument to be made that he would have helped much better, with his versatile skillset potentially allowing him to support the stars rather than trying to necessarily be one himself right away.

Drafting Kuminga was an effort to look beyond the Stephen Curry era, while drafting Wagner would have been a better way to maximize it. There are no guarantees that one player could have changed everything, but it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where Wagner is in the fold and the Warriors at least make a deep playoff run at some point since the 2022 title.

Maybe the player the Warriors got in return for Kuminga, Kristaps Porzingis, can reveal what Wagner on the Warriors would have looked like. The two are not identical, but they are both tall guys who can create problems for other teams with their size.

It’s always easy to look back and second guess things, but based on the way Kuminga’s tenure with the Warriors went and how Wagner’s career has gone so far, it is pretty easy to see the franchise made a clear mistake.