Could Andrew Wiggins’ Warriors days be numbered?
Should things continue down the path they’re currently on and Wiggins is, in fact, ineligible to play home games this season, it could mean his tenure with the team may come to an abrupt end at some point in the next six months.
In this article earlier in the week, Nathan Beighle outlined three players who could fill the void should Wiggins miss home games. This included Otto Porter Jr., someone who may be as critical as any to a potential Wiggins trade.
The Andrew Wiggins predicament continues to linger over the Golden State Warriors with less than three weeks till the start of the NBA regular season.
If Wiggins’ attitude towards the Covid-19 vaccine remains the same, Steve Kerr and the coaching staff may have no choice but to throw Porter Jr. into the starting line-up, at least for home games. Aside from the very serious threat of fitness issues as a result of an injury-riddled last couple of seasons, it seems difficult to envisage the Warriors having another option that makes more sense.
After all, Porter Jr. is, at his best, a starting-caliber NBA player. We just haven’t seen his best for a while given the aforementioned injury issues.
Even so, there’s optimism amongst Warriors fans that the 6-foot-8 wing can return to his best days within the Warriors system. That being an elite three-point shooter whose length and versatility make him a handful on the defensive end.
The Dubs play nine of their first 12 games at Chase Center, signaling the rush to fix the Wiggins issue as soon as possible. But if that isn’t sorted, it’ll give fans and the front office a chance to evaluate where Porter Jr. is at early in the season.
What if he’s playing well throughout that stretch? What if he’s offering 15 points per game on 40 percent from three with solid defense? Would it be enough for Bob Myers to pull the trigger on a 30 million dollar player who’ll miss half the season?
It’s unlikely, at least whilst Klay Thompson remains out with injury.
The biggest factor is obviously what Wiggins would bring back in any such trade. The whole covid drama has only lowered an already lowish trade value, even if 27 of the other NBA teams don’t face the same covid mandates in their city.
Could Wiggins’ days with the franchise be coming to an end? Who knows. Nothing should really come as a surprise given he’s always in trade discussions, that being despite a solid 2020-21 season.
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What we can say is that the situation certainly isn’t helping his cause to stay on the team long term. This is a franchise aiming to win, and it seems more than feasible that at some stage, he may be moved on for a package that can help them do that across a game-to-game basis.