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Steph Curry's supporting cast took a big hit this offseason as the currently rotation-shuffling Golden State Warriors lost Splash Brother Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks. Thompson's replacement Brandin Podziemski now has a broken nose. Draymond Green still graces the locker room but Andrew Wiggins has been noticeably absent all too often over the past 12 months.
Wiggins has been fighting an illness but is itching to return despite knowing there will be rough times working back into shape.
“It was tough, you lose it fast. I've been working hard, doing a lot of extra stuff to get my conditioning back, so I'm excited for tonight,” Wiggins explained (h/t Anthony Slater of The Athletic). “I'll know tonight once I get going…(Practice runs) felt really good, it felt like I had a really good summer of work.”
Wiggins was a series-changing piece during the Warriors 2022 run to the NBA Finals. Golden State got a championship out of a big move to bring on the wingman drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Coach Steve Kerr needs a new level of commitment from Wiggins to get Curry one last shot at a legacy-defining title run.
Kerr's request can even be measured on the stat sheet, per an interview with NBC's Kerith Burke.
“To me, I've already told him: six three-pointers a game,” Kerr said. “He is a really good three-point shooter. It was down a little bit last year, but…I want a lot of threes and I want a lot of attacks to the rim. He shot 80-plus percent from the foul line in the second half of the year last year. He looks really comfortable in every aspect of the game. And let's face it, with Klay gone, we need him to step up and be our second scorer after Steph. We know he's perfectly capable of that.”
Andrew Wiggins, Warriors win NBA's early-schedule wars
The scheduling gods did Golden State a favor to start the 2024-25 NBA regular season. That is why Wiggins has time to heal according to Kerr.
“It’s been a brutally difficult two years for Wiggs and his family, with his father passing away recently. There's no question his dad’s health impacted his play and impacted his well-being. As sad as it is, I’m hopeful his father's death brings a little peace,” Kerr shared. “I know, from experience, over time, that does happen.”
“If Wiggs has a sense of freedom and some peace of mind and his family behind him, which he always does, he's an unbelievable human being and an incredible athlete, and he's 29. He's right in his prime,” continued Kerr. “So I just think this is going to be a great year for him.”
