The Warriors and James Wiseman lost an entire season in 2021-22, and there don’t seem to be many encouraging signs moving forward.
Every time Wiseman got close to returning from the torn meniscus he sustained at the end of last season, he suffered a setback. The latest of which came after three encouraging G League games, and led to the Warriors shutting him down for the remainder of the season.
Veteran reporter of Andscape.com Marc J. Spears has been following the situation closely, and can’t help but think the Warriors made a mistake in understanding Wiseman’s injury, leading to a situation where they didn’t add another big man and are now left in a tough situation heading into the playoffs.
“The whole process with him from the beginning has been curious because I don’t think he got surgery quickly,” Spears said on Papa & Lund Tuesday. “There were some different procedures I heard that they were trying in hopes not to do surgery, and whatever they did, I don’t know if backfire is the right word, but it didn’t work.
“You’re talking about a young kid. We’re not talking about a 35-year-old having surgery. This is a young kid and you’d think he’d get through it quickly.
“I remember Stephen Curry’s early days, there were a lot of ankle issues. He used to wear the braces on the side of his ankles. There were a lot of people that were curious about whether he could sustain just being healthy out there on the floor. I think this is even on a more concerning level, because he’s missing an entire season. And there’s no trade value there. Nobody is going to want him right now. He’s going to be on the Warriors, and their hope is to have him play next season, but I think what probably burns the Warriors is the miscalculation of whether he’d be available or not.
“I just thought that with his injury, what he was recovering from, the unknown, they needed an insurance big man. They needed somebody else, just in case something like this happened. I really thought their should have been a big man the Warriors added to their roster. It’s a really, really guard heavy roster.”
Without Wiseman, the closest thing the Warriors have to a traditional center is the 6-foot-9 Kevon Looney. Behind him is Draymond Green and basically nothing else. Steve Kerr continues to reiterate that the Warriors are fine as is — citing their early season success without a center — but in the playoffs it seems like a situation that could become fraught.
“I’ve been told that they are not going to do anything else, but they have until April 10 to add a player. We saw Greg Monroe get picked up by the Jazz the other day. I thought Greg Monroe could have been a good addition. There have been some other players that have been added, but the Warriors have been quiet and haven’t done anything.
“If you do make a move, could it cost you [Juan] Toscano-Anderson. Are you willing to do that this late in the game? Is there anybody out there worthy of making such a move? I’m not sure.”
Unfortunately there aren’t really any big men available. Spears floated Marc Gasol, who is currently playing for the team he owns in Spain, but said he has no idea if the Warriors are actually interested in pursuing that.
“I just wonder if they are going to make some late move, although the word I keep hearing is they’re not going to do anything.”
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