Andrew Wiggins has now missed more than a month’s action for the Golden State Warriors due to personal reasons.
There still is no timetable for his return and when Paul Pierce was asked by Kevin Garnett if he was worried about the Warriors if they don’t have Wiggins, Pierce said he absolutely was.
“Yeah absolutely,” Pierce said. When he was asked about his level of concern, Pierce added, “High level of worry, over 10. Because for one, without Wiggins they wouldn’t have won last year. I’ve seen what he did, rebounding, defense, I mean he was their second-best player. Nobody wants to really say anything about it but under the radar, he was their second-best player. I’ve seen what he did on the defense, I’ve seen how he rebounded the ball, I’ve seen how consistent he was in the Finals and throughout the playoffs, he was huge for them.”
Garnett added that Wiggins was the player that the Warriors were looking for all year and Pierce called him the ultimate glue guy.
“Defense, rebounding, scoring, big shots, if they don’t have him, I don’t see Golden State getting back to the Finals,” Pierce said. “Because when you got a well-oiled machine, you need all the pieces to that. You can’t have a couple of screws missing and think it’s gonna perform the way it’s been performing. You gotta have all the pieces together, especially when you’re the hunted. If they don’t have that one key piece, I don’t see them getting to the Finals.”
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Wiggins was excellent on both ends of the court for the Warriors in the postseason last year and really stepped up in the NBA Finals. He averaged 18.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.5 SPG, and 1.5 BPG against the Boston Celtics and guarded Jayson Tatum extremely well.
He was clearly their second-best player, with some even calling for him to win Finals MVP over Stephen Curry. That was definitely a stretch, but there is no denying that the Warriors wouldn’t have won the title without him last year. This year’s team isn’t playing at a level anywhere close to last season’s and you have to agree with Pierce that without Wiggins, they aren’t making it back to the Finals.
Andrew Wiggins Is Dealing With Something Very Serious
Wiggins has now missed their last 16 games due to this personal issue and this is not something we see very often in the NBA. Players at times miss a couple of games due to personal reasons but it’s never for this long. There has been a lot of speculation on this topic and an anonymous Warriors player stated that Wiggins is dealing with something very serious at the moment.
A player also said that if his teammates are fine with Wiggins taking so much time off and the organization, which is paying him $33.6 million this season, understands why he can’t play then no one on the outside should question his absence. There is still no clarity on what exactly has happened, although head coach Steve Kerr did say Wiggins has not been ruled out for the season.
He had been averaging 17.1 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.3 APG, and 1.2 SPG in this campaign, and should he return for the playoffs, it would be a huge boost for the Warriors. For now, though, all that they and everyone else should hope for, is that Wiggins is able to successfully tackle whatever he is dealing with.
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