Warriors' Andrew Wiggins to Make Return in NBA Playoffs Game 1 vs. Kings; Role TBD

The Golden State Warriors reportedly will have one of their most important players available for Game 1 of their playoff series against the Sacramento Kings.

Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported Andrew Wiggins will return to the court for the first time since Feb. 13. He was away from the team for some time to address a personal matter, and the plan is to play him 20 to 25 minutes off the bench as he works his way back into form, per Charania and Slater.

Head coach Steve Kerr told reporters, "Andrew looks great, feeling good and is ready to go" and discussed the uncertainty about his expected role.

"I think it sort of depends on how he feels tomorrow and going into Saturday," Kerr said. "On the one hand, Wiggs is one of those guys who just doesn't seem to fall out of shape or get tired. He's just a naturally gifted athlete. On the other hand, he hasn't played in 10 weeks. So maybe the game will dictate it. We'll just have to play it by ear."

Whether Wiggins would be available was one of the biggest question marks going into the playoffs, and his return will provide a much-needed boost for a team that just avoided the play-in tournament as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference.

While it will be Wiggins' first game in more than two months, he has recently practiced and scrimmaged with the team after his return.

Kevon Looney told reporters his teammate "looked amazing" in those practices and expanded on why his return is so important.

"Defense, rebounding," Looney said. "He's a guy that guards the other team's best player. And he's a guy that when the shot clock is getting low, we can just throw him the ball and he's going to go get a bucket. That's something we've been missing all year.

"To have him back for the playoffs is going to be important for our team. The playoffs, teams start taking some things away. Sometimes you got to go get a bucket, and he's one of the best at that."

Golden State likely wouldn't have won the championship last season if it wasn't for Wiggins' ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor. He played some of the best basketball of his career during the title run and had back-to-back double-doubles in wins in Games 4 and 5 of the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics.

Wiggins' return is likely most important on the defensive side for this first-round series.

The Kings are first in the league with an offensive rating of 118.6, per NBA.com, and the Warriors will need the Kansas product's versatility on the defensive end to help slow that high-powered group over the course of multiple games.

Doing that will also take some of the responsibilities off the shoulders of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, which should have the Splash Brothers better prepared to impact the game on the offensive side.