SAN FRANCISCO — Andrew Wiggins has returned to a Golden State Warriors team that might be better than the one he left barely over a week ago. Why? His four-game absence due to a personal family matter thrust Moses Moody from the end of the bench into the starting lineup.
Steve Kerr told reporters on Tuesday the third-year wing will remain in the Dubs' rotation going forward even as Wiggins retakes his normal spot in the opening five.
Golden State went 3-1 on its Eastern Conference road trip without Wiggins, blowing out the Washington Wizards and overcoming major travel woes to take down both the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors on a tough back-to-back. Even Sunday's historic blowout loss to the Boston Celtics didn't halt the Dubs' palpable momentum entirely.
After all, Brandin Podziemski joined Wiggins on the proverbial sidelines at TD Garden, and the long-awaited identity the Warriors have developed over the last six weeks didn't just vanish with a 52-point defeat.
“We’re on the rise. We found something good, found that identity we were searching for,” Wiggins said Tuesday of what he noticed during his time away from the team. “We put pieces together that work, and it’s been a special last few games. We really put something good together> Everyone’s playing well, playing together, and we look like the real Golden State Warriors.”
Golden State looked like the “real Warriors” before Wiggins went out, too. Kerr's team is 14-6 since resuming its season on Jan. 24 in wake of assistant coach Dejan Milojevic's tragic death, owning the third-best winning percentage in basketball over that time frame.
Draymond Green became the Warriors' full-time starting center just two games into that stretch, a lineup and stylistic change that proved the driving force behind them finding that missing identity—and helped Wiggins turn his once-disastrous season around.
Wiggins averaged 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals in his last 15 games before missing time, shooting 53.8 percent overall and 47.2 percent from beyond the arc. He'd become a much more dynamic point-of-attack defender, too, regularly keeping the ball in front of him while also making more plays as a help defender.
Golden State's net rating with him on the floor during that period was a gaudy +9.1, per NBA.com/stats, second-highest on the team behind Green's.
Kerr stressed that while Wiggins would likely start Wednesday against the Bucks, his minutes load would depend on how his body responds to spending more than a week away from pro basketball. Fortunately, the 29-year-old was at least able to get some training in while tending to his family matter.
“I was just getting in work in when I could,” Wiggins said. “It obviously wasn’t my first priority, but I did make it a priority to get some work in.”
The personal matter that forced Wiggins to miss the Warriors' road trip has yet to be resolved, with he and his family taking it “day-by-day.” The 10th-year veteran stressed on Tuesday that he's glad to be back with his teammates and coaches, though, who offered him unwavering and unconditional support during his unfortunate leave of absence.
Wiggins' personal issue, unfortunately, doesn't seem to be going away. In the meantime, he can take solace not just from being around the team as the season's stretch run dawns, but playing the “fun” brand of basketball that's defined Golden State's dynasty since it tipped off nearly a decade ago.
“We’re sharing the ball, getting up and down, playing fast, aggressive,” Wiggins said of the Dubs. “Defensively, we’re locking in, and most importantly, we’re having fun on the court. I feel like, when we’re having fun, that’s when we’re most dangerous.”
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