Revisiting James Wiseman’s Injury History Amidst Current Saga
It’s a refrain we’ve heard so many times: the Golden State Warriors have the second-best record in the NBA, and James Wiseman hasn’t even played in a game yet.
The implication here is obvious — once Wiseman returns from his meniscus injury suffered in April 2021, having yet another player makes the Warriors even more dangerous. But in recent weeks, as Wiseman’s setbacks in his rehab become widely known, the tone has shifted. There are now legitimate questions about how much he’ll play this season, if at all. The added twists include a trip to health and safety protocols and a second surgery performed in December to control swelling in his knee. These issues, combined with the fact that the surgery was not revealed publicly until about four weeks after it happened, have made many Warriors fans nervous about his future and annoyed with the organization over what feels like a lack of transparency about Wiseman’s recovery process.
Saturday morning saw a step in the right direction when Wiseman practiced with the team and earned positive comments about his performance. But he still hasn’t been cleared for contact and much of his timetable remains unclear. With as many missteps as there have already been, no one wants to make too many predictions about what comes next.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Wiseman has dealt with a physical toll. Large portions of his career have been marked by injuries and other ailments, and these challenges help to explain his somewhat underwhelming NBA rookie season. After staying mostly healthy throughout high school, Wiseman entered the University of Memphis in 2019 as a five-star prospect and a potential first overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. He missed the team’s exhibition series in the Bahamas in August due to a shoulder injury, then sat out both October preseason games with an ankle injury. He then returned in early November and appeared in Memphis’ first three regular-season games before the NCAA ruled him ineligible due to his receiving improper benefits from Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway. Wiseman served seven games of a 12-game suspension before choosing to leave school and prepare for the draft on his own in mid-December. After the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the draft by several months, he was finally taken second overall by the Warriors on Nov. 18, 2020.
The start of Wiseman’s NBA career seemed to be an opportunity for him to reset and get back to playing basketball, and he had about a month to prepare for the start of the regular season. But he tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 7 and subsequently missed all three Warriors preseason games and several practices. When he returned to the court for the team’s season opener against the Brooklyn Nets on Dec. 22, it was the first time he’d played in an organized basketball game in more than 13 months, and only the fourth in more than a year and a half. Those time frames, which injuries and illnesses only exacerbated, seemed like ideal breeding grounds for a player who might have challenges adjusting to the pace and style of NBA basketball, and they were. Though he made some spectacular plays and had great individual games, Wiseman was mostly a negative when he was on the floor during the 2020-2021 Warriors season.
Wiseman played in 39 of the team’s first 53 games, but suffered the meniscus injury in that 39th game. Shortly thereafter, he underwent a surgery that ruled him out for the rest of the season, but his youth and the general recovery period for meniscus injuries made the Warriors hopeful that he would return for the start of the 2021-2022 season.
Since then, most of the news surrounding Wiseman has been a constant stream of setbacks, postponements and confusion. His expected season debut has been speculated as sometime around Christmas Day, Martin Luther King Day and the All-Star break, among others. None of them have come to fruition, and many fans are now simply hoping that he will be back in time to be a meaningful contributor to a potential postseason run.
When the Warriors drafted James Wiseman, they were aware that his relatively raw status made him both an intriguing prospect and an unpredictable one. His injury issues have only made his future more uncertain. He has the skill to be a franchise centerpiece for years to come, but it’s clear that there’s a long road ahead to get to that point.
(Photo credit: David Zalubowski/Associated Press)