Getty James Wiseman guards Anthony Edwards in a January 2021 game.
Did they make a mistake by picking center James Wiseman over Ball with the No. 2 overall pick? Could Wiseman eventually develop into an impact player himself? Or would the impatient Warriors end up trading Wiseman to snag a more immediate impact player for a title run?
Now, Warriors general manager Bob Myers is opening up about how the team came to the decision to take Wiseman over Ball, and how the team is still waiting to see what kind of player Wiseman can develop into once he’s gotten enough time on the court.
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Myers Explains Decision
Judging by just the first year in the league for Ball and Wiseman, the Warriors appear to have made the wrong choice. Ball became an immediate impact player for the Charlotte Hornets, while Wiseman struggled to find a place in Golden State’s offense and ultimately suffered a knee injury that cut his season short at 39 games and has kept him out the entirety of his sophomore season so far.
Appearing on The Ryen Russillo Podcast, Myers explained that the team put a lot of thought and consideration into who to take with the No. 2 overall pick, and ultimately ranked Wiseman ahead of Ball.
“We debate everything … we’re pretty debate-oriented. It’s not just me in a room saying ‘this is what we’re doing’ and then I shut the door,” Myers said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “We hashed out the whole thing as far as what we thought. We ended up ranking it the way we did. We watched LaMelo, he had a great workout when we saw him. We knew he would be a really good player, but we ended up putting James in front of him.”
“We ended up putting James in front of him.”
Warriors GM Bob Myers said the team debated between drafting James Wiseman and LaMelo Ball in 2020 but remain confident in their selection
Myers added that the team is still unsure what Wiseman’s ceiling will be, and has learned through some trial and error how to best use him.
“And I don’t think even Steve [Kerr] would admit, we just kind of threw James out there. That’s hard for a big guy to do,” Myers said. “We were posting him up on [Deandre] Ayton, we probably wouldn’t do that anymore. I just think Steve was trying to see what he was. So now it’s about putting him in a narrower lane and letting him grow from outside of that.”
Wiseman’s Future With Golden State
Throughout Wiseman’s rookie season and into the last offseason, there had been growing rumors that the Warriors could package him along with a pair of 2021 lottery picks in exchange for a star player. The Warriors ultimately used both picks, taking Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, and have committed to developing the trio into major pieces that can sustain the team for years beyond the peak for the veteran core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
The Golden State Warriors have recalled Klay Thompson and James Wiseman from the team’s G League affiliate.
The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami wrote earlier this month that, despite the ongoing rumors, the team has never considered trading Wiseman.
“Really, when the Warriors think of their future, they in large part envision Wiseman using these first few years as a grand learning experience, then rampaging through the NBA landscape,” he wrote. “That view is not changing any time soon.”
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Warriors GM Reveals Team’s Internal Debate Over Taking LaMelo Ball