UPDATE: The Warriors issued a statement on Draymond Green's status Tuesday afternoon.
ORIGINAL STORY: Dub Nation is also awaiting some news on the progress of Draymond Green, who hasn’t played since Jan. 9 due to calf/back issues. During his TNT debut as a player-broadcaster a few days ago, Green said he would be visiting a specialist early this week.
Warriors general manager Bob Myers joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast: Executive Show” Tuesday and said the team would issue an official statement later in the day. You can listen to the full interview here:
“I’m going to talk [director of sports medicine and performance] Rick [Celebrini] this morning after this and see where he’s at,” Myers told hosts Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. “He’s progressing well. He’s in there working, he’s getting stronger. Everything is trending right. I don’t know the timing, that’s what we’ll probably talk about today."
We are three months deep into the NBA season and yet to see James Wiseman take the floor for the Warriors in his second year. The center has been slow to recover from his April meniscus injury that required two surgeries – a major procedure in April and a clean up operation in December.
From the sounds of it, Wiseman still hasn’t cleared for full-contact scrimmages.
“We’ll have an update in the next few days, I guess,” Myers said. “The thing with James is, he’s just got to show he can kinda get through this ramp-up period and then he gets to play against people. Again, we hope that’s soon. I’ve gotta talk to Rick and see where he’s at with everything.”
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Unfortunately for Wiseman, it seems like the goal posts keep on moving. The team was initially hopefully he would be able to start scrimmaging around the same time as Klay Thompson, but here we are in February. These updates from Myers are sounding a bit repetitive for the second-year center, whose window to become a playoff contributor is slowly fading.
Without Wiseman and Green, the Warriors were already thin in the frontcourt. Recent back spasms to Nemanja Bjelica and Otto Porter’s balky knee has pressed Golden State even more.
The Warriors have stabilized since Green’s injury, going 9-4 on the heels of a six-game winning streak. But Myers can’t wait to get his big men back.
“I’m encouraged that both are on the right track,” Myers said. “We need ‘em both. … I don’t even want to voice it, but [Kevon] Looney has to stay healthy. He has to stay healthy. Thankfully he has and he’s doing a really good job.”
