Steve Kerr and the Warriors were "all-in" on James Wiseman when they drafted him second overall in 2020. They saw big things for him then, and still do now.
It just wasn't going to happen for Wiseman with the Warriors, a title-contender that couldn't give him the minutes he needed to grow.
So Wiseman is off to Detroit, where his former team expects him to thrive.
Kerr told reporters this week that parting ways with Wiseman in the four-team trade that sent the 21-year-old big man to the Pistons was "hard on a personal level because of our affection for James and the talent level."
"I was all-in on taking James when we did. I was part of the group and loved the ability and loved everything that we saw," Kerr said. "You can’t always foresee circumstances. At the time, we didn’t really know where we were as a team."
Turns out, they were just two years away from re-assuming their status as NBA champs. And when Wiseman's growth was stunted by a torn MCL that cost him all of last season and the Warriors saddled up for another title run this season, Kerr said it became "difficult for me to give James the runway that he needed."
"He was great," said Kerr. "Every single day he came to work with a great attitude, positive spirit. He's everything you look for in a young player in terms of his approach and his talent."
Just ask Klay Thompson, who grew close to Wiseman when they rehabbed injuries together at the Warriors' facility in the summer of 2021. Thompson, who was recovering from a torn Achilles, said he and Wiseman "were the only ones in here for about a month and a half."
"I’m going to really miss him," he said. "I know he’s going to do incredibly well in Detroit. He’s got so much potential and so much great basketball ahead of him. It hurts, I know, it was probably not fun for him to hear that news. But I just know that he’s going to be a heck of a player in this league."
Or ask Steph Curry, who said Wiseman was just what the Warriors needed when he arrived "in terms of a big presence who could be athletic on both ends of the floor," but never got the chance to prove it.
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"Anytime he started to figure out a little momentum and show the signs, he had something pull him off the floor for whatever reason," Curry said. "He never really could figure out the availability part, and that was nothing he could control there. It’s just a matter of how the cards were dealt."
For a young player on a championship-caliber team, Thompson said "it's really hard to have to deal with those expectations. You don’t have as much room to grow as you would in another franchise that’s on the rebuild."
With the Pistons, Wiseman should be dealt significant minutes from the jump.
“We all love James, that's the biggest thing," said Curry. "It's a guy you root for, a guy that you know will be able to figure it out, a guy that approaches each part of his job the right way, has a great attitude considering everything he's been through and the expectations and conversations around him. A lot of confidence that he'll be around this league a long time. I don't know what his ceiling is, but it's a guy I want to see figure it out and have an opportunity."
Wiseman's first opportunity with the Pistons comes Wednesday in Boston, and what an opportunity it is. The Celtics are one of the four juggernauts in the East who compelled Pistons GM Troy Weaver to bring Wiseman to Detroit.
"I’m excited for him," said Curry, "and I hope he does some great things in this league."
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