Andrew Wiggins has been back with the Warriors for a week, but has yet to see the floor after being away for two months with a personal issue.
That is expected to change this weekend when Golden State plays its first game vs. the Sacramento Kings in their playoff series.
“Regarding Wiggins, he said that he feels pretty good and they kind of like where he is, but they didn’t want to put him out Friday or Sunday in Portland, but he feels pretty confident that he’s going to be ready to go come the weekend,” Warriors beat writer Monte Poole said on KNBR Monday. “They’ll get him a couple of scrimmages in this week and be ready to go.”
Wiggins was a huge part of the Warriors’ championship run last season, and was probably the team’s second best player throughout the postseason. They will need a similar performance this time around, and Poole believes that they may not have to wait that long for him to get back up to speed.
“With Wiggins, will there be a minutes restriction early, I would think so,” Poole said. “He will be in the 20s and as he gets into the series I think he’ll bump up game-by-game, 22, 24, 28. I think if this series goes five, six or seven games he should be back where he normally would be, somewhere in the mid-to-low 30s.”
In addition to his excellent offensive play, Wiggins was the Warriors’ primary defensive stopper in the postseason. While the Kings have an extremely dynamic guard in De’Aaron Fox, Poole believes that his size will be a better fit for Gary Payton Jr., while Wiggins can focus on the Kings’ wings like Kevin Huerter, Keegan Murray and Harrison Barnes.
“I don’t think you’ll see a lot of Wiggins on Fox,” Poole said. “You may see some of that just to get some size on him, but Fox is quick. Any chance of putting Wiggins on him will be because you just want to try and disrupt him and use that size. You know the Warriors traditionally under Steve Kerr, when they play a dynamic offensive player, they never use one guy to guard that guy, it’s a variety of guys. You send two different looks at the guy so the guy never gets comfortable with one person guarding him.”
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