SAN FRANCISCO -- A smiling Andrew Wiggins sat at the podium Friday at Chase Center about an hour before the Warriors' bus took off from San Francisco to Sacramento for Saturday's Game 1 of the Western Conference playoffs at Golden 1 Center.
A year ago ahead of Wiggins' first playoff experience with the Warriors, the former No. 1 overall draft pick made it clear following his first All-Star season that he understood the stakes of Golden State starting another championship run. He wanted to cement himself as a Warriors legend. Wiggins' play spoke for itself and was a major factor in celebrating the franchise's latest championship parade.
This time around, the stakes are just as high for the Warriors but more questions surround Wiggins going into the postseason. He hasn't played in nearly two months while dealing with a family matter and missed the Warriors' final 24 games. Now that he has a handful of practices and scrimmages under his legs, Wiggins likes where he's at.
"I'm feeling good," Wiggins said. "Feeling good being out there practicing and working hard with my guys and preparing for the playoff push."
Wiggins will be available to begin the first-round series. That's a guarantee. The big question now is, will he start or come off the bench?
He says, at least publicly, the coaching staff hasn't told him the plan yet. Steve Kerr knows, but he isn't giving away those details just yet.
"There is, but I'm not willing to share it at this time," Kerr said when asked if there's a plan for Wiggins' role.
Golden State Warriors
The 28-year-old Wiggins has played 662 career games between the regular season and the playoffs. He has never come off the bench in the NBA. Wiggins started all 35 games of his one and only college season at Kansas. There's a real chance he has never been a bench player in his basketball life.
None of that matters to him. Steph Curry came off the bench in the first four games of the playoffs last year as the Warriors superstar returned from a foot injury. As Wiggins told NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole, "Steph can do it, but I can’t?"
Kerr used 24 different starting lineups this season. Bringing Wiggins off the bench would be a first. But it's a scenario that Wiggins embraces more than others might after following in Curry's footsteps.
"It'd be different," Wiggins said. "It's something that I haven't done. You know what, I'm down for whatever helps the team.
"Whatever we need. Really."
In 37 games this season, Wiggins averaged 17.1 points, which was just off his 17.2 average from last season. He made 47.3 percent of shots, 0.4 percent off his career high. His 39.6 3-point percentage was a new career high, topping his previous best of 39.3 percent last season.
He scored 30-plus points twice this season. Wiggins dropped at least 20 points 14 times. In the last game he played, a nine-point win against the Washington Wizards on Feb. 13, Wiggins put up 29 points on 12-of-22 shooting.
But offense can come secondary while Wiggins reintegrates himself. Points can be had by Curry. Or Klay Thompson. Or Jordan Poole. Or Donte DiVincenzo. Or even Jonathan Kuminga in some cases.
If Wiggins takes care of defense first and hits the glass for rebounds, he knows the offense will come to him and he'll have plenty of chances to find his points.
"For sure," Wiggins said. "Playing defense is all about effort and wanting to do it. That's what it comes down to. Offensively, sometimes you can't help it if you miss shots. You can't help it if the game goes a certain way. But you can determine your effort on defense.
"It's not hard to work on defense."
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Determining how much Wiggins plays will be a collaboration between the Warriors' training staff and coaching staff, as well as how his body is reacting in real time. Wiggins has been back in the Warriors' building for 10 days now. The first few weren't easy.
With each day, however, he's feeling more and more like himself. The Warriors didn't become fully healthy last season until the start of the playoffs. The similarities this season are uncanny.
Now, Wiggins is ready to make a statement once again.
"If you don't play basketball for a while, you come back and those first couple days are going to be a little rough," Wiggins said. "Just trying to get back into it, that's the hard part. After those first two days, you're not exactly up to speed, but you're close.
"I'm close."