Andrew Wiggins will not play in the Golden State Warriors’ final two games of the regular season in Sacramento and Portland, head coach Steve Kerr said Wednesday in a radio interview.
Kerr, while speaking on 95.7 The Game’s Willard and Dibs show, made the timeline clearer after saying Tuesday that there would be “no way” that Wiggins could play within the next few days.
That means the Warriors will be without their star forward for two crucial games as they are hoping to lock up a playoff spot and avoid the play-in tournament.
The hope is for Wiggins to be ready for postseason play after having missed 25 consecutive games tending to an undisclosed family matter. The 28-year-old returned to Chase Center on Tuesday and did play in a five-on-five scrimmage with his teammates on Wednesday, Kerr said.
“He looked good,” Kerr said. “One thing with Andrew is he has that god-given athleticism and he’s one of those guys who doesn’t seem to get tired very easily.”
Wiggins said Tuesday that he didn’t think it would take long for him to return to game action. If the Warriors lock in the West’s fifth or sixth seed, the team will have a week to prepare for the first-round series, giving Wiggins time to ramp up.
“He has to stack together a number of days like this before he’s ready to go out and play an NBA game,” Kerr said. “We can’t put him in a bad spot, health wise we have to bios him up and get his strength and conditioning in a good place.”
Kerr also stressed that the Warriors will need Wiggins at full strength for a deep playoff run because of his two-way ability.
“You think about all our playoff series a year ago, he was taking the best guy whether it was Luka (Doncic) or Jayson Tatum or whoever,” Kerr said, “and then he’s giving us 18-20 points per night, four or five offensive rebounds. He was brilliant.”
