An update on James Wiseman’s return
It’s been a while since we’ve seen James Wiseman out on the court, over 244 days to be exact. The former number two overall pick was spotted a few days ago participating in some ball handling drills after practice per Monte Poole. He also said that the second-year big man is approaching the eight-month post-surgery. This is still on track with his 6–9-month recovery return time, which is a bit strange since he hasn’t been fully cleared to practice yet.
He was, however, assigned to the G-League along with Klay Thompson a few weeks prior. But the Warriors have been mostly quiet since then, just waiting for the doctor’s approval for Wiseman to start scrimmaging again. Dr. Pandya, the avid Dubs supporter, took to twitter recently to address worried fans' concerns. He said, “The important thing to understand is that we are still within what we consider a normal rehab protocol for someone who has undergone a meniscus repair surgery.” This is a good sign for Wiseman, as we do not know of any setbacks that he has been through but as of now he seems to be on the right track.
Dr. Pandya added, “In general when you look at when athletes return to play, there was a large study that was done to see when meniscus tear patients returned, and that average was about 8.7 months.” It differs for every athlete obviously, with Wiseman playing at the highest level in the NBA and adding to the fact that he’s seven feet and around 240 pounds. A big thing is his jumping and explosiveness, as an athlete that relies on catching lobs and protecting the paint, he needs his knee to be fully healed. It seems that the Warriors are waiting until he’s 100% ready to do those things until they clear him to practice.
Not to mention that he was working on his post-game before he got injured so he will be doing a lot of jumping and explosive movements at some point in the future. But until then fans will just have to wait and see what the young promising rookie will bring to the already dominant Warriors squad. It is crazy to think that Klay Thompson might return to the court before Wiseman does, but the Dubs know not to rush their players back from severe injuries. This patience is a good thing for the players, but the fans have already made a million trade scenarios it seems.
A few days ago, when the Pacers announced that they are looking to rebuild, madness broke out. Every other post was trade Wiseman for Myles Turner or some deal revolving around Wiseman. But again, the Warriors know better as they continue to play it smart. We haven’t even seen the young rookie play a full season so fans should pump the breaks on that idea. According to Connor Letourneau, Klay agrees and motivates Wiseman saying, “I just try to remind him he’s going to carry the torch one day.”
This is exactly what he should be hearing, as he has a chance to be a star when fully healthy. And it isn’t too often that you see a team as good as the Warriors are right now, with multiple young guys that could develop into stars. For Wiseman, he needs to keep that mindset that he’s here for a reason and continue to get better every single say until we get to see his return.
(Photo credit: Jeff Chiu / AP)