Warriors big man James Wiseman has had a pretty solid start to his NBA career. In just 39 games played, he averaged 11.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 0.7 assists per game on 51% shooting. His team also won the title, meaning that he captured something in a single season that most players never do in their entire career.
Still, even with all that being true, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Wiseman.
Last season, the young stud missed a lot of games due to a major knee injury and it drastically limited his availability throughout the campaign.
In a chat with Madeline Kenney of The Press Democrat, Wiseman revealed just how hard his rehab process really was.
“I’ve been through a lot of low moments,” he said. “Some days, I wasn’t feeling it, some days I couldn’t work out because mentally I wasn’t there, but I just found ways to push through it every day … even when I was going through my emotional breakdowns and stuff. It was hard for me and for my family as well, for my mom to see me down and stuff, to see me in tears,” Wiseman continued. “But I just stayed strong … I just kept going.”
It must have been tough for Wiseman to watch from the sidelines as his team had to push on without him. With so much still left to prove, Wiseman wasn’t really able to show his full potential.
The good news is, the whole experience inspired Wiseman to bring out his best.
“It actually lit some more fire inside of me,” Wiseman said. “It actually made (my love for the game) better in a good way because I missed the game so much so it just made my ambition grow, or get stronger.”
The jury is still out on what kind of player Wiseman can be. While he may not be superstar material, he can still be a guy who helps the Warriors win games — and he (along with Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins) could be among the ones charged with leading the next generation of Dubs basketball.
