With D’Angelo Russell having been moved on to the Minnesota Timberwolves last week, newly acquired Andrew Wiggins got the first game of his Warriors career under his belt on Saturday night when he turned in a 25-point effort.
For good measure, Wiggins also chipped in two rebounds, three assists and five steals. Unfortunately, the Dubs fell LeBron James and the Lakers by a final score of 125-120, though.
That wasn’t really due to any fault of Wiggins.
Interestingly enough, according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Connor Letourneau, Tom Thibodeau was a guest at Warriors practice on Monday.
Thibodeau coached Wiggins for three years — the entirety of the young Canadian’s career in Minneapolis — and obviously has a relationship with him. It stands to reason that the Warriors organization sought out coach Thibs to get some input on how to best utilize Wiggins’ talents.
To this point in his career, Wiggins has struggled to find consistency, but Thibodeau’s experience with him could help Steve Kerr assist Wiggins with what has been a very productive season. Thibodeau was fired by the Timberwolves in January 2019, but has been somewhat of a fixture around the NBA since then.
Tom Thibodeau, who coached Andrew Wiggins in Minnesota, is on hand for Warriors practice.
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) February 10, 2020
As the Warriors prepare to welcome Stephen Curry back into the fold, whether Wiggins will fit with the former MVP and Klay Thompson is the burning question in San Francisco at the moment.
Golden State will next be in action on Monday night when they host Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. It will be a good test for the Warriors, as the Heat are one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams but have gotten off to an 0-3 start on their current six-game Western Conference road swing.
One of the weaker teams in the league, Miami is likely headed to Chase Center with a victory in mind, so the Warriors are likely to get a good shot from Erik Spoelstra’s team.