{"id":415238,"date":"2026-01-15T19:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T19:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/415238\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T19:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T19:06:09","slug":"steve-kerr-wanted-warriors-to-draft-franz-wagner-over-jonathan-kuminga-in-the-2021-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/415238\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Kerr Wanted Warriors To Draft Franz Wagner Over Jonathan Kuminga In The 2021 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors<\/a> may be staring at one of the most painful \u2018what if\u2019 moments of the Stephen Curry<\/a> era, and it traces back to draft night in 2021. According to a detailed report from Marcus Thompson II, Sam Amick, and Nick Friedell of The Athletic<\/a>, head coach Steve Kerr<\/a> was among those in the organization who wanted the Warriors to select Franz Wagner<\/a> instead of Jonathan Kuminga<\/a> as the 7th pick of the 2021 Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeam sources confirmed that some in the organization, including Kerr, wanted Franz Wagner, but the German big man would go eighth to Orlando in the end. In a push to inject the Warriors\u2019 roster with much-needed athleticism and potential starpower, Kuminga was drafted as part of the foundation of the post-Curry era along with Wiseman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wagner has blossomed into an All-Star in Orlando, becoming one of the league\u2019s most reliable two-way forwards. He is averaging 19.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists for his career, thriving as a connector, scorer, and secondary playmaker. He fits seamlessly in modern NBA offenses, defends across positions, and rarely disrupts flow. In short, he looks like exactly the type of player Golden State has spent years trying to develop around Curry.<\/p>\n

Kuminga\u2019s path has gone the opposite direction. Once seen as a cornerstone of the future, he is now demanding a trade and has not touched the floor in weeks. On the first day he became eligible to be moved, Kuminga formally asked out<\/a>, bringing a long-simmering standoff into the open. His relationship with Kerr has deteriorated<\/a>, his role has vanished, and the Warriors are left trying to extract value before the February 5 deadline.<\/p>\n

With Kuminga now demanding a trade, the irony is impossible to ignore. Kerr\u2019s original instinct appears to have been right. The Warriors did not just miss on Wagner. They missed on a timeline fit, a stylistic fit, and a stabilizing presence that could have extended their contention window.<\/p>\n

Drafts are rarely fair judges in real time. Context matters. But five years later, as Wagner ascends and Kuminga exits, this one will linger inside the Warriors organization. Not because they chose wrong on purpose, but because they chose upside down when they needed alignment.<\/p>\n

And now, they are paying for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden State Warriors may be staring at one of the most painful \u2018what if\u2019 moments of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-415238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}