Golden State Warriors provide ideal preparation time for Andrew Wiggins
The Golden State Warriors confirmed their place in the 2023 NBA Playoffs on Sunday, dominating from the opening tip in a monstrous 157-101 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center.
A more hard-fought win for the Los Angeles Clippers in Phoenix means the defending champions have finished sixth in the Western Conference, setting up a highly-anticipated matchup with the Sacramento Kings.
The Golden State Warriors will have six days to further ramp up Andrew Wiggins’ training load and have him prepared for another postseason run.
The Warriors and Kings first-round series will kick off at Golden 1 Center on Saturday night, giving key players a nice recovery period before officially beginning their quest for back-to-back championships.
More importantly though, Golden State will use the time to best prepare Andrew Wiggins for a return to the lineup. The 28-year-old returned to the franchise last week after dealing with personal matters, but ultimately missed the final 25 regular season games dating back to February 13.
Golden State wanted to avoid the sudden-death Play-In Tournament for obvious reasons, but being forced to play an extra game or two would have also interrupted their plans for Wiggins. The Canadian can now have an ideal period scrimmaging alongside his teammates once again. Speaking prior to the win over the Trail Blazers, head coach Steve Kerr outlined the process that will now eventuate.
"“Ideally, we win the game today and have these next five or six days to prepare, which would include some scrimmaging and getting Wiggs back in the fold with everything we’re doing scheme-wise and execution-wise. He gets another week under his belt and then we reassess from there”, Kerr said."
Placing Wiggins back into the mix come Saturday may be the biggest ‘what if’ of the early part of the postseason. Some believe the 2021 All-Star can help lift the Warriors to another NBA Finals appearance, an outcome that looked incredibly unlikely even a fortnight ago.
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It certainly comes with risk though, particularly starting in Sacramento where fans are eagerly anticipating their team’s first playoff appearance in 17 years. Wiggins’ performances in last years postseason, and the franchise’s championship pedigree, provides faith they’ll get it right and have him impacting games from the outset.