Inside Pelicans’ game-changing lottery win

Jonathan Kuminga has lost faith in Steve Kerr and no longer believes he will reach his full potential playing for him, sources close to Kuminga tell Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Kuminga sat the final 18 minutes of the Golden State Warriors’ loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday.

“(Thursday night) was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” one of the sources said.

Kuminga had 16 points, four rebounds and four assists in 19 minutes.

“He was playing great,” Kerr said of Kuminga after the game. “His normal time to go back in would have been around the five-, six-minute mark (of the fourth). (Andrew Wiggins) was playing great, we were rolling, were up 18, 19, whatever it was. So we just stayed with him. Then at that (later) point, it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. He had been sitting for a while. So I stayed with the group that was out there, and obviously, we couldn’t close it out.”

Kuminga was the No. 7 pick in the 2021 draft and has played better this season with a bigger opportunity.