Ezra Shaw/Getty Images James Wiseman
The Golden State Warriors looked great again last night. For the second time this week, the team’s offense looked sharp and had excellent ball movement in their 124-115 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Stephen Curry led the way with one of his best shooting nights in some time. Curry went 6-10 from three and 10-20 from the field in his 29 point performance. Klay Thompson also played well again, scoring 23 points on 9-16 shooting and 5-9 from three.
It was another complete team performance for Golden State, who shot 21-36 from three for 58.3%. The team also shot 53.7% from the field. They recorded 31 assists and are now 8-1 on the season when they record at least 30 assists. While the Warriors played great last night, unfortunately, it wasn’t all good news for the team.
Frustrating Injury Update
On Wednesday Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was asked for an injury update on young big man James Wiseman. Unfortunately for the Warriors, the news from Kerr wasn’t positive.
“There’s just no blueprint for this,” coach Steve Kerr told KNBR on Wednesday (h/t Josh Schrock of NBC Sports). “This is such a unique set of circumstances, and we will just have to see how it plays out, and we thought it was going to play out very differently. We thought he would be back by now. I just feel so bad for James. He is working every day. He is keeping a really good, positive spirit about him. But we want so badly for him to get his career started and off the ground. The poor guy is dealing with the injury, with the knee, and we just don’t know when he is going to turn the corner.”
You can tell how frustrated and defeated Kerr feels for Wiseman, which makes you wonder how much longer he’ll be out. The Warriors are already 49 games into the season and there’s still no sign as to when he’ll be able to return.
Wiseman has been out since April 2021 after tearing his meniscus. The Warriors were hopeful he would be ready for the start of the season, but he has suffered numerous setbacks. Wiseman underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in December to relieve swelling. He has been able to return to individual drills, but still hasn’t been cleared for contact.
How Wiseman Could Help The Warriors
In 39 games during his rookie season, Wiseman averaged 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. His play during his rookie season has been described as uneven, but Kerr still thinks he can help the Warriors if they can get him back this season.
“I do know that when he is back, the ability that he has to give us that lob threat can be huge,” Kerr said. “You think about all the shooting we have—you throw Steph and Klay and Otto Porter and Wiggs and all these guys who are shooting great from the 3-point line—you add a lob threat, that’s a pretty devastating weapon. It would be great to see what that looks like, but we’ll just have to see how it all plays out.”
The Warriors have been patient in Wiseman’s return and can afford to do so with the way the team has played this season. It’s clear though that Kerr believes can help make the Warriors even better. Only time will tell if we’ll get to see that this season.