James Wiseman and Draymond Green absent at the start of Warriors’ training camp
Two Warriors players tested positive for COVID-19 during the welcome-back process. Twenty players are listed on their training camp roster. One, Klay Thompson, is out for the season with a torn Achilles. Seventeen participated in Monday’s first group practice. Two didn’t — Draymond Green and James Wiseman.
“I will not comment on that any further,” Steve Kerr said Monday after practice. “I’m not allowed to comment on that. You can make your own deductions … I’m just trying to figure out which one of you has put all the pieces together and has figured out what is happening here.”
NBA players who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 enter a 10-to-12-day quarantine, unable to exit that quarantine until they register two straight negative tests separated by 24 hours. Upon return, whenever this issue arises, the Warriors don’t plan to just drop the recovered player right back onto the court. There’s an easing-back-in process.
“I know that there’s some kind of a cardiogram and some kind of a heart monitor testing (that’s needed) because of the nature of the virus,” Kerr said. “There’s a period of time where our two players will be able to be in the gym and watch practice before participating. From what I gather, it’s several days between the time they can be in the gym to the time they can actually practice.”
Citing privacy laws, the Warriors haven’t said which players tested positive. No players have publicly acknowledged a positive test. By company policy,
The Athletic refrains from publishing the name of anyone who has tested positive unless it has been publicly revealed or previously approved by the individual, team or league.
But Kerr spelled it out pretty plainly. The Warriors will be without Wiseman and Green in the coming days. Neither is expected to return to team activity until at least next week, after the preseason opener on Saturday against the Nuggets. Two more preseason games quickly follow in Sacramento and the regular season is just around the bend, tipping two weeks from Tuesday.
So this puts the readiness of the Warriors’ two most important frontcourt players in jeopardy, one of them a more significant short-term concern than the other.
Green’s absence shouldn’t be a big setback. He’s been privately telling people he feels fine, and nobody questions his mental understanding of the Warriors’ system or the level he knows he must get to quickly for them to contend in a crowded conference.
“I’m not worried about Draymond,” Kerr said. “He’s got a better feel for what we do than anybody. He’ll be fine once we get rolling with practice.”
Green has questions to answer. He’s coming off the worst season of his professional career and is now on the wrong side of 30, stepping into a four-year, $100 million extension. Where is he at physically? Can he nudge that 3-point percentage back toward the 33 percent range? Does the body hold up over the condensed 72-game grind?
“To be himself,” Steph Curry said of his expectations of Green. “The down year last year, we all had a down year last year, across the board. For him, he’s going to be that defensive presence and monster we expect him to be. I know he’s been working on his game on the offensive end, expanding his range… Again, you talk about a guy who knows what the conversation is around him, who he is as a player, the expectations, I’m sure he’s keeping the receipts.”
The larger question in these early days now surrounds Wiseman. The second overall pick seemed certain to step into a huge immediate role. He was probably the favorite to land the starting center job and, if his development went according to plan, emerge into the 25-minute per night interior force next to Green — crushing lobs and protecting the rim.
He still might. His physical tools aren’t changing. But the most important practices for every rookie are his first few, when the coaches are implementing the system and the veterans are going full speed. It’s when a team begins to form and learn itself. Once the games begin, they come rapidly. Veterans go light. Younger players are usually left to go hard in individual settings. The group work becomes half-speed or moves to the film room.
Wiseman likely won’t participate in these first crucial practices and might miss the entire week, plus the preseason opener, leaving him behind Marquese Chriss and Kevon Looney in the early chase for the starting center spot.
“It’s unfortunate,” Kerr said. “But it’s just the way it goes. Our coaching staff has been showing him tape the last few days. He’s still getting some homework in between now and the time he’ll be able to play again. So it’s not ideal, but nothing is ideal in 2020.”
The Warriors open in Brooklyn on Dec. 22. A game in Milwaukee on Christmas follows. Both are marquee national TV tilts. It’s coming up on the Warriors quickly.
“It is what it is,” Curry said. “Draymond, he’ll be able to plug in extremely quickly. Hopefully, he can catch up physically, in terms of the work that needs to be put in. But James will be in a situation where we’ll just see where he’s at. He’s going to have to learn a lot on the fly. Hopefully, he’s capable of doing that.”
