While the Warriors fight for playoff positioning, James Wiseman slowly creeps closer to making his NBA return.
Wiseman, who stands seven feet tall with a 7-foot-6 wingspan, represents a solution to the Warriors’ lack of size, the team’s biggest flaw this season that has especially reared its ugly head over the last two months in the absence of the injured Draymond Green.
But how long it will take for Wiseman to rejoin the rotation is a question that has followed the former No. 2 overall pick throughout the season. After months of reports of the center “ramping up” to a comeback only to be followed by setbacks, Wiseman made his season debut for the G League Santa Cruz Warriors on Thursday night.
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He finished with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting in 21 minutes and will play again for the Sea Dubs on Sunday at Chase Center.
On Friday, coach Steve Kerr made his weekly appearance on KNBR and was asked what the next step will be for Wiseman after the pair of G League games.
“Some of it will depend on how things go for him Sunday,” Kerr said. “How his body responds from [Thursday] night and Sunday’s game. We’ll just kind of take it a day at a time.”
Golden State, which is battling the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference and holding off the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz for the No. 3 seed, would welcome back his size but might have trouble affording Wiseman minutes for the sole purpose of getting him up to NBA speed.
Golden State Warriors
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“You know, [with] 15 games left, we’re trying to win every game to improve our playoff seeding,” Kerr said. “And yet, this guy is so talented we want to get him out on the floor. And so, we’re going to try to do that. I’m sure we will. We have to figure out what’s the combination, who he’s out there with, at what point of the game will we put him out there, how long we will play him for. All these things are to be determined.”
Every remaining game for the Warriors is critical. And an uncharacteristic 2-9 stretch that tightened up the standings behind the top-seeded Phoenix Suns didn’t help. But the Warriors getting a healthy Wiseman back on the floor ready to immediately contribute certainly would.