basic functionality that should be in gnome in the first place
Who gets to decide what's "basic" functionality? Each desktop's team has their vision for what they want to implement. Something that might be basic to one person might not be in someone else's vision or...
the devs don’t want to implement
...is being worked on but needs design. GNOME is design-oriented. It doesn't matter how much you scream that something needs implementing if no one designs how that implementation will work and why it should be implemented in the first place. It's not about "not wanting", it's about making sure that when something is implemented, that it'll work well both now and in the future.