The Warriors sent James Wiseman to Santa Cruz for playing time. Now they’re playing him because he has plenty of NBA minutes on Wednesday.
Wiseman had a chance to play as the Warriors got back into the starting lineup on the road. Andrew Wiggins remains out with an adductor strain against the Utah Jazz, while Stephen Curry played just 38 minutes Monday night with a sore left ankle and Draymond Green’s tight hip will He was limited to 34 minutes.
Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins will all miss tomorrow’s Warriors game in Utah. Curry has a sore left ankle, Green has tightness in his left hip and Wiggins has a right adductor strain. James Wiseman is with the team and available.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 6, 2022
Wiseman averaged 15.6 points and 10.1 rebounds for Santa Cruz. The Sea Dubs are 4-3, and Wiseman has posted a double-double in his last three games there. His one positive net rating comes from his last game there.
With both forwards sidelined, Wiseman is likely to see action against Utah, who frontcourt with Kelly Olynyk, Jared Vanderbilt and 6-foot-11 “small” forward Law. Rimalkanen started a very high frontcourt together. They also have rookie Walker Kessler off the bench. Not only could the Warriors use Wiseman’s size, it would be a good exercise to see if he can go after Utah’s bigs, who both shoot from beyond the arc to beyond the arc.
For Wiseman, this might just be a brief return. Santa Cruz played again on Friday night, and the Warriors have until Saturday’s game against the Boston Celtics to recover from their injury, which is obviously very serious, and it’s not just Steve Kerr who put the veteran in the Away break.
Until then, Wiseman can run dunks, non-contact screens, and Bob Fitzgerald has detailed his lack of game experience, at least for one night.