Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman are both “very unlikely” to play in the team’s three preseason games, coach Steve Kerr said Thursday.
“Neither one will play Saturday and very unlikely to play either game in Sacramento, too,” Kerr said during a video conference call with reporters. “We’ve got to be very careful and smart given the layoff that we’re all coming off of and then the short amount of time as it is for training camp. There’s no way I’d throw either guy into an NBA game right away. They got to build into that.”
Both Green and Wiseman have been held out of the start of Warriors training camp and it remains unclear exactly when they’ll be able to participate in a full practice as the organization follows league protocols. General manager Bob Myers said last week that two players had tested positive for COVID-19. While the organization couldn’t name which players tested positive, Wiseman and Green are the only two who have yet to practice.
Kerr noted that Wiseman has been able to watch practice from a distance in the Warriors facility the last two days alongside former Warriors center Zaza Pachulia, who now works for the team as a basketball operations consultant. The Warriors social media account tweeted out a video of Wiseman getting some shots up by himself prior to practice.
Kerr acknowledged that “there’s no replacing experience” for the 19-year-old rookie and is hopeful that he will be back on the floor as soon as he’s cleared.
“It just pushes everything back,” Kerr said of Wiseman’s early development. “It’s unfortunate because these are very important practices this week, so the only thing we’ve been able to do is have him sit and watch practice. And then watch film, both with the team and individually and be tutored off the court, but as soon as he’s on the court we’ll do as much as we can with him to get him up to speed.”