Jonathan Kuminga sprained an ankle in early January. A month later, the Warriors acquired Jimmy Butler. Kuminga and Butler, as athletic forwards who don't shoot many 3s, are awkward fits together. With Kuminga out,

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

Head coach Steve Kerr is well aware of his team's big dilemma ahead. He acknowledged that skipping the Play-In is the easier path, but he's now also pointing to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers as the Warriors potentially face a trickier route to the postseason.