Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on Monday said that rookie James Wiseman and forward Draymond Green could play on Thursday in the final game of the preseason.
Wiseman and Green each missed the start of training camp after reportedly testing positive for the coronavirus. The team has not been able to comment on them returning positive tests due to privacy laws but the two players have been ramping up on-court workouts recently and appear close to returning.
The two players have participated in various elements of practice but have not yet taken part in scrimmage games. They each will need to go through a full scrimmage in order to be cleared to play on Thursday with the final approval coming from the team medical staff.
The Warriors will play two games this week on the road against the Sacramento Kings to finish off the preseason. Wiseman and Green have both been ruled out of playing on Tuesday but Kerr left the door open for each to play on Thursday.
When, exactly, the two players will be cleared is not yet known but Kerr expressed excitement just to have them back in practice, even in a limited capacity.
“It’s so great to have those guys back out on the floor,” Kerr said. “With James, it’s so exciting to see the potential that is there and for him to feel a real practice. He was playing with huge energy, flying around everywhere. A couple of guys came off the floor at one point and just shook their heads, [saying], ‘Man, this guy is fast!’ It’s really exciting. The potential is there for James to really make an impact. He had a really good first day of practice but there is so much to learn.”
Despite a limited sample size in practice, Wiseman has seemingly blown everyone away with his energy and intensity during his time on the court. He was highly touted entering the draft as a player that can give a team just that on both ends of the floor and that has been on full display so far during training camp.
His energy and activity immediately struck Green in practice. Green noticed that Wiseman can cover a lot of ground but saw that his high energy sometimes took him away from where he needed to be on the court. That, Green said, can be fixed but having a high motor cannot be trained.
“I thought James was all over the place today, which was great to see,” Green said. “His energy was through the roof, which took him out of positions at times. You can teach positioning but you can’t teach high energy. He had great energy today.”
After a delayed start to his rookie season, Wiseman has seemingly come into practice and worked hard to make up for the lost time. He has drawn praise from several inside of the organization and could be in store for a productive rookie season as a result.
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