Warriors preparing to get Wiseman back around Thanksgiving

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SAN FRANCISCO -- James Wiseman won’t rejoin the Warriors this week, and he won’t be with them next week either.

The 7-foot-1 center could, however, be in uniform as early as Thanksgiving week.

When the Warriors leave Saturday for a four-game road stretch beginning in Charlotte, both Klay Thompson and Wiseman will stay behind and go through workouts and possibly participate in scrimmaging with the G League Santa Cruz Warriors.

“He could be there, or we could bring them up here,” coach Steve Kerr said Wednesday before tipoff against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Chase Center. “We have additional people who can come in and play as well, locally, so we’ll be creative.”

To be clear: Wiseman underwent surgery in April for a torn meniscus in his right knee and, by all accounts, is projected to return to NBA action well before Thompson, who is coming off major surgery on each leg in back-to-back years.

Unlike Thompson, who has not been cleared for full-contact practices and isn't expected back until December, Wiseman was cleared to practice last week and there have been no setbacks.

“It’s been an incremental approach, so there hasn’t been that “ah-ha” moment where he just took this leap,” Kerr said. “We’ve been purposely deliberate the last couple of months and just slowly ramping things up. He’s moving well and he’s engaged in a lot of drill work in practice and doing 5-on-0 stuff. He’s getting a lot of work in and he’s feeling good.”

RELATED: Why it's premature to conclude the Wiseman-LaMelo debate

Best-case scenario: The Warriors will have their second-year big man back before they leave on Nov. 27 for a two-game road trip to Los Angeles (Clippers) and Phoenix.

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