Warriors News: Latest Buzz on James Wiseman Injury Return, Jonathan Kuminga
It's been an arduous journey back to the court for James Wiseman since he tore his right meniscus in April, but the second-year big man out of Memphis may finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
On Tuesday, the former second overall pick reached another milestone in his rehabilitation journey: contact drills.
The 7-foot Golden State Warriors center was on the court in Salt Lake City for contact drills for the first time since April and also took part in a three-on-three scrimmage after practice.
Additionally, Wiseman has participated in full practices with no contact.
"It's big for him, individually, just to get closer to playing," Stephen Curry told ESPN's Kendra Andrews. He continued:
"And once he does start playing, hopefully he can stay in the rotation, stay off the injury list and get reps. He's young, he has a lot to learn. But you can only learn by doing it and getting out there. Understanding what NBA basketball is like. He deserves an opportunity with everything he's been through already in such a short period.
"I'm excited for him. There are a couple more hurdles to get through to get back on the floor, but he has an amazing opportunity to join us at the right time down the stretch to see what he can provide."
Golden State is hoping that Wiseman's progress signals that he'll be back in the lineup in time for the team to make its push for the playoffs and another championship.
The Warriors have relied heavily on Kevon Looney as their big man to help anchor their defense alongside Draymond Green and run the pick-and-roll. Looney doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves for how he sets picks and plays the pick-and-roll.
Ideally, they would like Wiseman to get back into the flow and serve as either a backup to Looney or supplant Looney in the rotation. But he will not only need to be healthy; he will need to be able to digest the Warriors' offensive and defensive schemes quickly, because the road to the NBA Finals will likely run through the Phoenix Suns, who have an All-Star-caliber center in Deandre Ayton and a more than serviceable backup in JaVale McGee.
Both big men are playing well, so Golden State will need Looney and Wiseman firing on all cylinders to beat Phoenix in a playoff series.
"He picked up everything really quickly," Kerr said. "This being James' second season, he's got a foundation of knowledge that's going to be really important for him when he does get back on the floor."
So when will Wiseman be back in action?
It's still too early to tell, according to Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle, speaking on KNBR's Papa and Lund on Monday:
"He has not been cleared for contact yet. Saturday was a non-contact practice. So it was significant that he participated in a full-team practice, but maybe not as significant as a lot of people would assume just because it was non-contact. The big thing that I'm waiting for is whenever he does get cleared for contact. We've been waiting on that for quite a long time now.
"I get asked every week, when is he going to get cleared, and I've been saying since November ‘It should happen any day now.' But there's been some setbacks here and there and it still hasn't happened.
"Until he gets cleared it's hard to really guess when he could come back to games because he has to get cleared for three-on-three work, then four-on-four, then five-on-five. I would think they would want to get a least a couple five-on-five scrimmages in with him before he returns to games. But at this point, you can't expect him to come back until probably early-to-mid March, maybe later. At that point, you're looking at only a matter of weeks until the playoffs, and he probably won't be a factor in the playoffs."
Jonathan Kuminga Not Bothered by Rising Stars Snub
The 2022 Clorox Rising Stars is supposed to highlight some of the NBA's best young talent.
Standout players in their first or second years are selected to put on a show of what fans can expect to see in the near future. Which is why is was puzzling that rookie Jonathan Kuminga was not among those chosen to participate.
Although he is only averaging 7.3 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, he is electric on the floor, providing much-needed spurts of athleticism, energy and bounce.
"It's a travesty he's not in the rookie-sophomore game," Klay Thompson told Josh Schrock of NBC Sports. "That just doesn't make any sense. I don't know what the NBA was looking for in that one.."
Thompson cited Kuminga's floor game, post presence, jump shot and prodigious basketball IQ as reasons why he should have been selected to play alongside players like the Cleveland Cavaliers' Evan Mobley and Detroit Pistons' Cade Cunningham.
Kuminga, however, is not bothered by his omission.
He's focused solely on getting better and helping his team win, as Schrock relayed:
"They did what they did. I don't really worry about that as long as I'm still playing here, getting better every single day. Most of the time when you go to the Rising Stars Game, it's not really helping you work on your own craft. It's just a fun game. I mean, I would love to be there, but they passed on me, so I don't got to worry about that. I'm just focused on the future now and helping the team win and just getting better every day."
So while other notable rookies will be suiting up during All-Star weekend, Kuminga will be watching and using it as fuel to keeping working.
That is starting to pay off, and he's gaining fans along the way.
"I've seen Kuminga's work ethic improve," Green recently told Monte Poole of NBC Sports. "Not that he wasn't a hard worker; I haven't been around him long enough to say whether he was a hard worker or not. But what I've seen is him learning how to work. As he is learning how to work, his game is getting better. His understanding is getting better. And that's important."
