Steve Kerr Sends Strong Message on James Wiseman’s Status With Warriors

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Steve Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors.

Third-year Golden State Warriors center James Wiseman has had a rough start to his NBA career. After being drafted by the Dubs No. 2 overall in 2020, he hasn’t been able to find any sort of consistent playing time. He’s appeared in just 58 games in three seasons with Golden State, and hasn’t been adding to that number at all as of late.

The 21-year-old hasn’t logged any minutes for the Warriors in over a month, last checking in against the Utah Jazz on December 28.

His head coach Steve Kerr explained to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole that he recently had a chat with Wiseman.

“I did, just because it’s hard as a young player to have to go through this,” Kerr told Poole after the team’s January 29 practice.  “And you need reps. And you haven’t been through the league for a long time, and you don’t always understand what’s happening.”

Kerr then gave some insight to why the 7-foot 1-inch big man hasn’t been seeing the floor.

“I would love to get him out there, but right now, JaMychal is playing really well. Obviously, we’ve gone to a smaller lineup, so that Loon and Draymond are not playing together as much. It creates a little bit of a logjam at that position. James just has to stay ready.”

Poole explained that the Warriors coach even hinted that a return to the G-League could be in store for Wiseman.

“Kerr said ‘it’s a possibility’ that Wiseman could make another trip to the G League but that a final decision in pending,” he wrote.

In 19 appearances for Golden State this season, Wiseman has averaged 6.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 12.7 per game.

Warriors’ Steve Kerr Details Decision To Bench James Wiseman

Wiseman’s status has been one of the bigger storylines surrounding the Dubs as of late. Moreso, Kerr’s decision to continuously leave the big man on the bench.

After his team’s January 27 win over the Toronto Raptors, Kerr explained why he chose not to put Wiseman into the game.

“We just decided to go with JaMychal,” Kerr said via NBC Sports Bay Area. “You know, we thought about going with Wise, but JaMychal has been playing well in the last few games, and so we gave him those minutes. But James could find himself out there next game. You know, it’s it’s just day to day and just got to stay ready. Which he will.”

Despite the difficulty of the situation with Wiseman and the Warriors, Kerr has seemingly been as empathetic as possible. During a recent appearance on 95.7 The Game’s Damon & Ratto, he spoke about feeling bad for the situation the 21-year-old is currently in.

“I think that’s a fair question,” Kerr said when asked if the team feels obligated to either play Wiseman or trade him. “One of the things I tell James from time to time, is that I feel bad for him because of the circumstances. He’s had a tough go with the injuries, the injuries definitely set him back. But the bottom line is he’s a really talented young guy playing on a veteran team.”