The Golden State Warriors claimed a thrilling 137-131 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, but elsewhere it wasn't the same kind of joyful experience for one of their former lottery picks in James Wiseman.
The former second overall pick was stapled to the bench for the entirety of a double overtime epic between his Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the reigning NBA champions emerging from Gainbrigdge Fieldhouse with a 141-135 victory.
James Wiseman was left out of the Pacers rotation in their season opener
It's not overly shocking that Wiseman was a DNP as he makes his return from a devastating torn achilles suffered in last season's opening game, but it slightly surprising based on the context of the game.
Indiana's starting center, Isaiah Jackson, had four fouls in just eight minutes and had no impact as the immediate replacement for previous stalwart Myles Turner who stunningly departed for the Milwaukee Bucks in free agency.
Perhaps Jackson's foul trouble and limited playing time in a 58-minute game would give Wiseman an opportunity, but instead that went to Jay Huff and Tony Bradley who combined for 20 minutes off the bench.
The fact the Pacers played a legitimate starting five for only half of a double overtime game shows they're not in love with any of their center quartet, having preferred to go with Obi Toppin, Jarace Walker and Pascal Siakam who combined to play 114 minutes as front court options.
Perhaps this gives Wiseman reason for optimism going forward -- that his place behind Jackson, Huff and Bradley is hardly set in stone. The brutal reality remains though that, for the season opener, he was the fourth-string guy in a pretty underwhelming Indiana center rotation.
Wiseman was the only available Pacers player, outside two-way contracted guard RayJ Dennis, to not get game time as head coach Rick Carlisle went 12-deep in a rotation that was also without starting guard Andrew Nembhard for the entire second-half due to injury.
The seven-footer averaged 13.4 minutes in his four appearances during preseason, recording 5.3 points, 3.0 rounds and 0.5 assists while finishing as a team-worst -50 in his 53 total minutes on the floor. He should see opportunity at some point if he remains healthy, but whether he can show enough to prolong his NBA career remains to be seen.
Wiseman made 60 appearances for the Warriors across 2.5 seasons in the Bay Area, having unfortunately become notable for all the wrong reasons in what's gone down as one of the biggest mistakes by the franchise this century.