Steve Kerr has no excuse for benching Jonathan Kuminga

In Steve Kerr's eyes, Jonathan Kuminga probably forgot how to play basketball within 10 days.

When the Warriors beat the Lakers, 123-116, on April 3, Kuminga was widely praised for his impact on both ends of the floor. Kerr and Draymond Green couldn't stop raving about Kuminga's ability to stay in front of LeBron James and Luka Doncic, and why his athleticism unlocks the Warriors and makes them more formidable defensively.

During Sunday's regular-season finale, Kuminga did not see the floor as the Warriors suffered a 124-119 OT loss to the Clippers. Even before the game, Kerr acknowledged Kuminga wasn't a good fit in lineups next to Green and Jimmy Butler, and reasonably so. 

It's never a wise call to play three non-shooters at the same time in the modern NBA, which is why Kuminga, Butler and Green don't fit. However, Kuminga could have provided a spark off the bench, especially defensively. The Clippers exploited Golden State's mediocre point-of-attack defense with James Harden and Kawhi Leonard getting to the rim at will. 

Inexcusable coaching by Kerr 

Rather than mixing things up, Kerr was insistent on putting the undersized Gary Payton II on Harden, which yielded disastrous results. Harden shot 4-of-5 when guarded by Payton before finishing with 39 points and 10 assists. Kerr also erred by asking Buddy Hield to check Leonard, who shot 2-of-3 in 7.4 partial possessions in their matchup.

Granted, Kuminga wouldn't have slowed down Harden or Leonard, but he could have at least challenged them a little more. It was malpractice on Kerr's part not to give Kuminga at least a few minutes— if nothing, to throw a different body at Harden and Leonard. 

After the loss, Kerr tried to justify the Kuminga benching by noting that Gui Santos also didn't enter the game. 

"We've just found a group since Jimmy got here that we're pretty comfortable with," Kerr explained, via NBC Sports. "Gui [Santos] didn't play either. Gui's been our highest plus-minus guy over the last two months. Both he and JK have been really impactful players for us. And it doesn’t mean they're out of the loop going forward, it's just this is how this game played out."

In other words, Kerr admitted he doesn't trust Kuminga in a high-stakes game with playoff implications. That's fair. As a championship-winning coach, he has earned the right to field the players he trusts. 

But would it really have hurt the Warriors to give Kuminga a brief look?