Several times a week, we keep you informed of the latest news about Klay Thompson, whose return to the Warriors is obviously eagerly awaited by the NBA. But there is another player who is currently in the rehab phase at Golden State, namely young pivot James Wiseman. And obviously, we will have to wait for the New Year to see him again.
“Hmm, what are we – December 6th?” He still does not participate in the scrimmages. Until he comes back to participate, it’s going to take a little while. You can do the math. I don’t want to be in the headlines. ” Without going too far, Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted yesterday that James Wiseman’s rehabilitation would last a little longer. Until when ? Difficult to release a specific date like that but it is likely that the end of the year 2021 will also end without Wiseman, away from the field since April 10 and his meniscus tear. As Anthony Slater recalls in a recent paper published on The Athletic, the pivot of 20 rods will reach eight months of rehabilitation ‘on December 15, he who had knee surgery on April 15. Eight months of absence for a tear of the meniscus, it is a duration which one could qualify as “normal” and it can even go up to nine months (January 15, therefore in the case of Wiseman) depending on various parameters, including the physical profile of the player. Given that James Wiseman is an athletic center of 2.13m for 109 kilos, the Warriors are taking it easy with their youngster, much like the Grizzlies with Jaren Jackson Jr. recently. As a reminder, the latter had also been the victim of a tear of the meniscus on August 4, 2020 in Mickey’s bubble, before finding the floors on April 21, 2021. We calculated with the fingers, it’s been eight months and 17 days, a period that Wiseman seems on the verge of exceeding given where he is in his rehabilitation today.
As Steve Kerr points out, James Wiseman – currently with the Dubs G League squad – has yet to resume the five-on-five, which still represents a milestone in a long rehab. This is really when a return can be considered. This is the stage that indicates that the rehabilitation is soon about to end. Once Wiseman gets there it could go pretty quickly, but today he is mostly limited to individual work. Despite the positive updates the Warriors have provided over the past few weeks and months, coming back from a torn meniscus is clearly a process that takes time, perhaps more than some might initially envision. As a reminder, as Anthony Slater points out in his paper, the Warriors spoke in May of a return of James Wiseman in the group for training camp at the end of September. Suffice to say that it was a bit too optimistic. And at the beginning of November, it envisaged a participation of the pivot in the scrimmages, which therefore still has not happened for the moment. “With a tear of the meniscus, the progression is not linear as with a rupture of a knee ligament or Achilles tendon” Kerr recently said to justify himself, before reassuring Warriors fans: “It’s not easy to make predictions because it varies a lot from case to case. But James is fine. There is no structural problem. We are just very, very careful ”. An understandable prudence for the reasons explained in the previous paragraph, a prudence which should therefore logically take us until 2022 for a return of number 2 of the 2020 NBA Draft.
With their magnificent start to the season and especially their title ambitions, the Warriors will not rush the return of James Wiseman, not necessarily ready today to help Golden State in his race for the title despite his individual potential. But once he’s back, what can Dubs really expect from him? How will it be used? Will he soon be involved in a trade allowing the Warriors to strengthen in the short term? So many questions which symbolize the uncertainty around the man and which await answers.
Source texte : The Athletic
