The Golden State Warriors and head coach Steve Kerr threw Andrew Wiggins right into the fire. After missing two months because of a personal family matter, Wiggins played 28 minutes and took the biggest shot of the Warriors' Game 1 loss to the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs.

Donte DiVincenzo started in place of Andrew Wiggins in Game 1. After Wiggins came off the bench for the first time, he was in the Warriors' lineup for most of the contest. Wiggins finished with 17 points, three rebounds, one assist and four blocks against the Kings. He was one of Golden State's best players in Sacramento.

“Wiggs was great,” Kerr told the media after Game 1. “So awesome to have him back. We're whole with him out there. Our team makes sense with Wiggs back. I thought he looked really good.”

Wiggins came out strong, scoring 12 points in his first 14 minutes on the floor. The veteran seemed to run out of gas as the game moved along. Wiggins missed seven of his eight attempts from 3-point range. His final 3-point miss was a wide-open shot with 10 seconds left and the Warriors trailing the Kings by a single point.

“First half, he was amazing,” Kerr said of Wiggins. “Second half, he maybe wore down a little bit, which is to be expected given that he hasn't played in a game in over two months. But he was fantastic. It was wonderful to have him back.”

During the regular season, Wiggins shot a career-high 39.6% from 3-point range. Golden State's small forward averaged 17.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 37 games. Wiggins was arguably the Warriors' second-best player in the 2022 NBA Finals.

Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 30 points in Game 1. Curry missed a 3-pointer as time expired that would've sent the contest into overtime.