Before Andrew Wiggins rejoined the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, March 5, Draymond Green rallied behind him and urged the fans to stick with their distraught teammate.
“I think there’s plenty of guys that don’t know what’s going on,” Green said on Steiny & Guru show on 95.7 The Game on February 29. “With Kawhi Leonard [in San Antonio] I didn’t want to pry about his injury if he didn’t want to tell me. But, it’s tough as a team because you have to be the middleman of trying to answer questions for somebody. There are going to be a ton of questions, it could be a distraction. But, you have to move with sensitivity and empathy because you never know. I hope fans stick with Wiggins.”
It turned out Wiggins’ four-game absence after tending to a serious family matter, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania, did not distract the Warriors at all as they went 3-1 without him on their East Coast road trip.
Though the grueling trip, which included their “worst travel experience” ended with a humiliating 52-point blowout at the hands of the league-best Boston Celtics, the Warriors are in a much better shape now than they were in January.
They have won 11 of their last 15 games to get within 3 games behind the sixth-seed Phoenix Suns.
Wiggins’ return gives coach Steve Kerr the full complement of his roster since November as rookie Brandin Podziemski has also been cleared to play from his knee injury.
The Warriors face the surging Milwaukee Bucks, winners of their last six games, on Wednesday, March 6, with Giannis Antetokounmpo (left Achilles tendinitis) questionable and Khris Middleton (left ankle sprain) out.
Andrew Wiggins Felt It Was Time to Come Back
While Wiggins kept the details of his absence private, he told reporters that he felt it was the right time to rejoin the team.
“I had to take care of what I had to take care of, be present for that and then when I think it’s an appropriate time to come back, that’s what I felt like,” Wiggins said in his first public appearance since his mysterious absence. “I’m back here with the team and ready to get to it.”
Wiggins, though, added that the personal matter he’s dealing with hasn’t exactly subsided.
“But I just have to take it day by day,” he said.
Wiggins said he kept working while he was away, hoping to get back from where he left off.
In 8 games since the February 8 trade deadline, Wiggins averaged 14.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting 51.7% from the field and 48.5% from the 3-point line solidifying his return to the starting lineup.
Potential Klay Thompson Suitors Named
Demoted swingman Klay Thompson has been linked to two Eastern Conference teams as he enters unrestricted free agency this summer.
“The Warriors seem intent on getting below the luxury tax (or at least the second apron) this offseason. If so, Thompson is looking at a significant pay cut in free agency, which may lead to him looking elsewhere for better offers (perhaps from the Philadelphia 76ers or Orlando Magic),” Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus wrote on February 27.
In a separate piece, Pincus illustrated how the Warriors can still find a way to re-sign Thompson without reaching the second apron.
“Assume Paul is let go for financial sanity. His $30 million salary (currently non-guaranteed) can be used in trade should the Warriors choose to stay above the second apron (limiting the team to minimum players). Without Paul, Thompson can return in the $20-27 million starting salary range, giving the Warriors the TMLE.
But Golden State may try to duck the tax entirely, which may mean the end of the era of the Splash Brothers—at which point the team could use the NTMLE and still stay below the threshold,” Pincus wrote on March 1.
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Warriors’ Draymond Green Gets Honest on Andrew Wiggins’ 4-Game Absence