The Golden State Warriors have felt regret again and again at their James Wiseman failure -- drafting him, not developing him, dumping him. Now a new flavor of regret is washing over them as Wiseman doesn't just let down an NBA team -- he is letting down his country.
The Warriors had the rare opportunity to add a Top-5 pick to a contending roster. The San Antonio Spurs pulled that off in 1998 and landed Tim Duncan to pair with David Robinson. Spurs product Steve Kerr certainly hoped the Warriors could do the same with the second pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Instead, they drafted athletic big man James Wiseman, who has proven to be an absolute bust. Debate all you want -- and Warriors fans have -- whether the right answer there was LaMelo Ball, trading back or trading the pick altogether. Any path would have been better than taking Wiseman.
Wiseman has failed to establish a place in the NBA for himself, hindered in part by an ACL tear in 2024. He was given a new opportunity this month, however, when Team USA added him to their roster for World Cup Qualifying.
James Wiseman was given a lifeline
FIBA, which oversees international basketball, doesn't care about the NBA calendar. They schedule World Cup qualifying during the NBA season, which prevents NBA players -- even lower-tier players -- from representing their country during the qualifying windows.
To make the World Cup field, therefore, Team USA has to go to battle without its top players. Or its next group, Or the group after that. The top 300 or so names are entirely off the table. And thus, the likes of James Wiseman get their chance.
The biggest names on the current Team USA roster other than Wiseman include former NBA players Brandon Knight and Elfrid Payton and current G League player David Roddy. It's hardly a star-studded crew. Given Wiseman's size, it seemed like a chance for him to get his career back on track and put some positive game tape together for NBA teams ahead of Summer League.
Instead, everything went horribly wrong.
Wiseman and Team USA flopped hard
In Wiseman's first game, Team USA was the favorite over the Dominican Republic. The actual team from the DR has some international juice when players such as Karl-Anthony Towns suit up. With their own NBA players unavailable -- and many European players tied up with their teams as well -- they seemed to be at a disadvantage playing Team USA on American soil in Los Angeles.
Instead, the Dominican Republic punked the Americans. Former college star Angel Delgado had 11 points and eight rebounds, but otherwise they were lead by names foreign to American fans. Jassel Perez had 20 points and three others scored 13 or 14 points each in a balanced effort. The DR took down the USA 87-79.
Wiseman played 24 minutes as the starting center but was bullied by Delgado and company. He scored nine points to go with six rebounds, one assist and two turnovers. He wasn't the sole problem, but he wasn't the solution, either. And with Team USA, you only get noticed when you lose -- and lose they did.
There will be more qualifying games, and Wiseman has a chance to make his mark. He will need to, as Team USA is hardly guaranteed a spot in the World Cup. Lose another two or three times and they could miss out entirely. As the host country for the 2028 Summer Olympics, America will play regardless, but it would be a dark mark on the nation if they don't even make it to the World Cup.
To get there, the nation may be relying on James Wiseman. And Warriors fans can tell you what a terrifying proposition that is -- a path leading only to regret.