At one point this summer, the Golden State Warriors looked like they were on the verge of making a leap of faith.

Paul George, now with the Philadelphia 76ers, was the top target. The All-Star was on the road in Southern California and wanted a contract that the Los Angeles Clippers wouldn’t pay him. However, the Warriors felt like George was the type of star who would put them over the top. Unfortunately for them, the Clippers were unwilling to complete a trade that would have sent him to the Bay.

Mikal Bridges and Lauri Markkanen were two other players the Warriors were seriously considering acquiring. Bridges was taken off the board when the Brooklyn Nets sent him to the New York Knicks for more picks than a lottery pick. That left Markkanen, who was drafted by the Chicago Bulls before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers and eventually the Utah Jazz.

With all that travel, it’s no wonder Markkanen would want to stay with a rebuilding team. But the reason the Warriors couldn’t trade for the rising star was their lack of draft capital and desire to retain young players like Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga.

Warriors Cornerstone: Splash Jazz Trade ‘could have been nonsense’

Warriors cornerstone Draymond Green is known for being outspoken, to the point where he is heavily involved in the team’s roster decisions. When confronted about his team’s failed trades for Markkanen, the defensive announcer didn’t mince his words.

“That could have been nonsense, by the way,” Green told ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. ‘Markkanen come here, we don’t know that. We’ve never seen it. So there was no thought about what it could have been, because we don’t know what that looks like.”

Green’s claim that the Warriors could have played poorly is correct. There have been several cases where a trade looked great on paper, but didn’t work out so well. In this case, Markkanen seemed to complement Golden State’s frontcourt with his length and shooting.

He has a point

Markkanen isn’t at the level of, say, George, because he’s not a great shot creator. Although the Finnish forward can play one-on-one, he is more effective when playing against others. All the Warriors really needed was for him to play against Green, Kuminga and Stephen Curry.

So while Groen is right to point out that Markkanen’s move may not have worked, it still seems like it might have. In fact, Golden State’s biggest problem is the fact that Green, Kuminga and Trayce Jackson-Davis – their starting frontcourt – are struggling to play off each other. And jeopardize the distance of the offense. If Markkanen was with the Warriors, they could draft him over Kuminga or even Jackson-Davis and avoid that problem.

Now, despite the 2-1, they are off to a bumpy start. Kuminga plays 19.7 minutes per game and is sixth on the team. He’s averaging just 8.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game while shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 11.1 percent from 3. He has no creases to slide through inside the arc. He looks unnatural and uncomfortable in a stretch roll.

That said, the way Andrew Wiggins is playing lends itself to the idea that the Warriors made the right choice. Wiggins is a player who can create for himself and has turned into a legitimate long-range threat. He is averaging 19.7 points per game and connecting on 57.9 percent of his threes. As Golden State looks to the future, holding on to the former No. 1 pick could become important.

If Kuminga and Podziemski come into their own this season or beyond, maybe everything will work out for them. If not, they may have to find a replacement for Kuminga as early as next season.