Second-year Warriors center James Wiseman is scheduled to play in two games for Golden State’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, this week, per a team press release. Wiseman has recovered enough from a pair of procedures on his knee to be cleared to play in a game situation.
According to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link), while there’s still no official target date for Wiseman’s NBA return “whispers” indicate it could happen during an upcoming home stand at the Chase Center, from March 12-20. Sources tell Kendra Andrews of ESPN that Wiseman is “highly unlikely” to become a permanent part of Golden State’s playoff-bound rotation, but he is projected to earn occasional spot minutes.
The seven-footer, still just 20, was selected with the No. 2 pick out of Memphis in the 2020 draft. In his 39 healthy NBA games to this point, he has averaged 11.5 PPG and 5.8 RPG. His lack of experience will likely preclude him from being more than the Warriors’ third center this year.
There’s more out of the Chase Center:
- Though the Warriors could benefit from an additional reserve center behind starter Kevon Looney, the team appears to have prioritized wings as it makes a postseason push, writes Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. Kawakami notes that 6’7″ starting power forward Draymond Green remains the club’s most effective center as a small-ball option, adding that Wiseman could work as a backup big in certain situations.
- Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has identified rookie wing Moses Moody as a key piece for Golden State moving forward, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). “He’s a keeper,” Kerr raved after Moody scored a career-high 30 points in Denver on Monday.. “He’s a guy who’s going to be a cornerstone for this team for a long time to come. It’s easy to see that right now in his rookie year.”
- As part of his NBA 40 Under 40 series, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic interviews Warriors executive vice president of basketball operations Kirk Lacob, noting that the son of team majority owner Joe Lacob, has become a trusted voice for team president Bob Myers. The younger Lacob discussed how the team handles player development with a new youth-heavy roster. “We’ve got someone on the coaching staff who is solely kind of dedicated as the director of player development and their job is to make sure players have development courses at every part of their career, and that the coaching staff is on the same kind of alignment as the performance team because that’s a whole other player element is your physical performance,” he said. “On the front office side, we’ve got a whole group and we call them team development, but part of team development is player development.”
Warriors ain’t getting out the west without Wiseman. They have no big. How does he miss whole season over an injury from last yr. I don’t get this.
They must not think he is ready for some reason.
Idk why noone believes in Looney. He is a good player. He is not your magazine pinup all star center but those guys realistically are few and far between. I still like them to go deep. We’ll see how tonight goes.
Anyone watching the game just hear sweet vindication from handsome Stan himself?
Looney is great, and Dray at 5 lineups are what goes down in the playoffs so Loon gets to work a little less and Wise plays matchup dependent.
This is why Dray isnt rushing back. He knows DPOY is probably gone now since he didnt rush back, but he should be 100% come playoff time.
Which really sucks, because I think he had it wrapped up this year had he stayed healthy.
@Knicks
BEEEEEEE cuzzzz he NNNNjurred his RIGHT……….MEnisssKKKUUUSSS!!!
Why is that so hard to understand? He injured himself in April 21. It hasn’t even been a full year yet. He’s right on time in his recovery process.
There was a setback in December where they had to clean out the knee little bit. He is not such an essential piece where they need him to be back and in the lineup playing big minutes. He’s just an auxiliary guy at this point in his development so why Rush him back now? He’s not ready even if he is healthy.
May as well make sure James Wiseman is 100% before you stick him out there because he’s not a starter who you need to get out there ASAP.
Dec was a minor cleanup procedure. The problem was he would get cleared to ramp up and then the knee was swelling so they would pull back. The recent was the first time he ramped up with it responding well.
He had two knee surgeries. And, they don’t want to make the same mistakes they made last season. So, it takes a little while longer.
We need both Wiseman and Iggy back asap even if they dont play much. They will give the team a major morale boost. Wiseman will still be critical in case of injuries to Looney and Green in postseason. Just gotta be ready for every possible scenarios in long grinding postseason.
Morale boost? They looked pretty happy last night destroying the Clippers. Also have you watched Kuminga?
Kuminga struggles defensively. The Warriors have been lacking defensively.
Yes, buhs were never really the centerpiece of the Warriors playoff runs, but when they were at their best they always at least had a couple solid bigs who played their roles correctly and gave them good minutes…
They don’t have that this year, and they can’t win with solely Looney and Dray playing the 5..They need some more size to make a deep run, even if it is just a solid 15mpg, it would make a big difference for the Warriors as a whole..
Name one free agent center that can give them a solid 15 minutes? They are free agents for a reason.
This roster is overloaded and Kerr have already a ton of adjustments to make with the backcourt, so why should he cares about a fool trouble rookie when Dray is about to come back … Myers and Kerr looks ok to give Wiseman some minutes over a buy out C, so beat it, Warriors BB is not about winning in the paint…
Warriors PO weakness is Dray fool trouble and team cohesion after Klay’return and Steph stamina.
Huh? I don’t think you can call Dray a troubled fool. I don’t understand where you get that idea from. He’s been a solid player for a decade.
He didn’t mean Dray, meant Wiseman, who may as well be a rookie for all he’s played. The second “fool” typo, read “foot”.
Well all that is my take too!
All this talk about needing Wiseman… Kerr does not believe it, right or wrong… GSW will test their faith in their system. Management would like their legacy to be about fielding wings, not centers or even forwards.
Myers, Kerr, Lacobs, etc want their legacy to be wings. So be it. We will see how that works!
Huh? I think they want their ‘legacy’ about winning championships. 3 of their last 4 draft picks have been forwards, and a center. Dray’s foot is fine. His lower back has been his problem. Wiseman has not had any foot problems, it has been his knee. They Warriors have been working hard to not repeat the same mistakes they made last season. So, it makes since not to rush Wiseman.
Nothing about Dray’foot indeed, but i do think has a short C coaches should target him the most to get him out of the games…
What is a short C coach? What does that have to do with Draymond’s foot? How is that going to get him out of games?
Draymond is a short C, opponents coaches should target him more for getting him in fool trouble to take him out of games
G74, their “legacy” is how they got it done… What they stand for… How they got the whole dynasty started… What they have been drafting despite all the other plans that fans have clamored for. Their 2 & 4, Klay & Dray, have been winglike, as so Barnes & Durant. They were ahead of the NBA on that trend; indeed they likely started it.
The Cavs led by a 3 did not dissuade the trend, tho they ran a different slower offense.
I do Not support that the GSW titles were magic, or luck, or playing “small”, or keeping a “young core”… Many have tried these avenues. Smallball teams are popular to have but not been as successful in playoffs. But a thorough wing-based scheme has rarely been done better, and now Kerr will rely on it. He should also name it! (He did once)
Injuries: A bigman with a recent foot injury is always liable to have further problems there. Back injuries too never go away but can be played through.
And Dray could be said to make “fool” trouble too lol.