The Warriors regretted their intestines! Missed 24+5+4 All-Stars, otherwise Curry would have a chance to win the fifth championship

In the NBA draft history, every choice is like a big gamble, full of unknowns. At the 2021 draft, the Golden State Warriors faced such a fateful choice. At that time, the Warriors had the No. 7 draw, and the coaching staff tended to choose Wagner, who is currently playing for the Magic, while the team's boss Crab was in love with Kumingga. Now, a few years have passed, Wagner Jr. shines in the Magic, while Kumingga's situation in the Warriors is a little embarrassed, which also makes the Warriors regret it. After Wagner Jr. joined the Magic, he quickly became a key figure in the team's reconstruction process. He has excellent physical fitness and comprehensive technical ability, and quickly adapted to the intensity of the NBA game. In the 2024-2025 season, his performance was even more amazing. This season, he averaged 33.7 minutes per game, contributing 24.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.4 blocks, shooting percentage of 46.3%, three-point shooting percentage of 29.5%, and free throw shooting percentage of 87.1%. Such data is not only among the top in the Magic, but also quite impressive in the entire league. He has rich scoring methods, stable mid-range shooting, sharp breakthroughs, and can also make decisive three-pointers from the outside. Facing the defensive champions in the league, he can also use his skills and abilities to tear open the opponent's defense and score efficiently.

Judging from its influence on the team, Wagner Jr. is an indispensable core of the Magic. He is one of the organizers and initiators of the team's offense, and often hits key balls at critical moments in the game to boost the team's morale. The Magic have formulated many tactics around him, such as the downward or outward movement after pick-and-roll, and his support at high positions, which have made the Magic's offense more diversified. On the defensive end, his positive attitude and excellent defensive awareness can effectively limit the opponent's score. Under his leadership, the Magic successfully returned to the playoffs and also achieved their best record since the 2010-11 season with a record of 47 wins and 35 losses. When Wagner Jr. was absent, the Magic's performance in the game declined significantly, both in terms of offense fluency and defense intensity.

Compared with Wagner Jr., Kumingga's development path with the Warriors seems much more bumpy. The Warriors are a team with a deep championship background, with stars gathering in the team, which also limits the playing time and performance opportunities of Kumingga in the team. In the regular season of the 2024-2025 season, Kumingga played 47 games, averaging 24.3 minutes per game, contributing 15.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists, shooting percentage of 45.4%, three-point shooting percentage of 30.5%, and free throw shooting percentage of 66.8%. In the playoffs, he played 8 games, averaging 23.4 minutes per game, scoring 15.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists. His offensive efficiency needs to be improved, especially his performance outside the three-point line is not stable enough, which also affects his role in the team's offensive system.

Judging from the situation in the team, Kumingga has never been able to fully integrate into the Warriors' tactical system. The Warriors' tactical core revolves around stars such as Curry and Butler, and their offense is mainly composed of a large number of passes and cuts and three-point shooting from the outside. In such a system, Kumingga plays more of a terminator, and his ball-holding and autonomous offensive ability have not been fully utilized. In addition, he also has some problems on the defensive end, and his defensive awareness and position sense need to be strengthened, which also leads to his prone to missed people and fouls when defending. There are at least three reasons why the Warriors regret it. First, the offensive firepower gap is obvious. Wagner Jr. has now grown into the Magic's scoring responsibility, and his average of 24.2 points per game has given him a place in the league's scoring list. His presence makes the Magic's offense more diversified, and he can create scoring opportunities for the team whether it is positional battles or fast attacks. In the Warriors, Kumingga was unable to provide stable scoring support for the team due to his playing time and tactical status. When the Warriors need someone to come forward to score and relieve the pressure on Curry and Butler, Cumingga often fails to meet the team's expectations. In some anxious games, the Warriors tend to get stuck due to the lack of a stable second-point scoring point. If Wagner Jr. had chosen that year, he might have shared more pressure for Curry on the offensive end and make the Warriors' offense more three-dimensional. Curry's fifth championship is likely to be a success. Taking this season's game as an example, in the anxious moments of many games, Wagner Jr. was able to break through and score points or hit key shots with his own ability to help the Magic win; while Kumingga's performance was not stable enough and made many mistakes, and could not give the team strong support like Wagner Jr.

2 are the differences in team tactical adaptability. The Magic built a tactical system that suits his characteristics around Wagner Jr., where he can give full play to his strengths. Wagner Jr.'s excellent passing ability and comprehensive offensive skills allow him to serve as both the end point of the offense and the organizer of the offense. And Kumingga has always been in a state of adaptation and exploration in the Warriors' tactical system. The Warriors' tactics emphasize passing and cutting coordination and outside projection, and Kumingga's characteristics have not been fully explored and utilized. His ability to break through the ball with limited space in the Warriors' tactical system, and more often he can only rely on off-ball running to find out his mobile phone. If Wagner Jr. was with the Warriors, with his comprehensive skills and excellent passing ability, he might be able to better integrate into the team's tactics and improve the team's overall combat effectiveness. In some complex tactical cooperation, Wagner Jr. can quickly understand the tactical intentions and execute them in place, leading his teammates to participate in the offense; while Kumingga needs more time to understand and adapt to the tactics, which to a certain extent affects the team's offensive efficiency.

3: In the long run, Wagner's development potential and upper limit seem to be higher. He is still young, but he has shown his potential to be an All-Star player and has also performed well in international events such as the European Championship, averaging 20.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. However, Kumingga's development prospects for the Warriors are still unclear, and it is still unknown whether he can grow into the core player the team expects. Wagner Jr. has reached a five-year, $224 million maximum salary renewal with the Magic, which is enough to prove the Magic's emphasis on him and confidence in his future development. For the Warriors, choosing Wagner Jr., who has more potential and combat effectiveness in the draft, is obviously more in line with the team's future development plan. In terms of player growth rate, Wagner Jr. has made significant progress every season, both in terms of technical and game reading ability; while Kuminga's growth rate is relatively slow, and the progress in some key technical links is not obvious, which also makes the Warriors worry about his future. The Warriors' choice in the 2021 draft seems to be a big mistake now. Wagner Jr.'s success with the Magic is in stark contrast to Kumingga's struggle with the Warriors. This also made the Warriors realize that they need to be more cautious and professional in key decisions such as drafts, otherwise they may regret their wrong choices like this time.