Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins returned to practice Tuesday after missing time to deal with a personal family matter. Wiggins hadn't been with the team for the past week, as Steve Kerr said last Wednesday during an appearance on local Bay Area radio station 95.7 The Game that he would be out indefinitely, though he declined to go into detail.
On Tuesday, the Warriors coach was a little more direct about the 10-year veteran: "Andrew [Wiggins] came back yesterday. He practiced today and he'll play tomorrow," Kerr said.
Wiggins was also seen getting shots up at the Warriors' practice facility on Tuesday, which would indicate a return to play for the forward after missing the past four games. Golden State hosts Milwaukee on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.
Andrew Wiggins has returned to practice after missing the last week due to a personal family matter. pic.twitter.com/oYyE3DSHxP
— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) March 5, 2024
Wiggins missed the final 25 games of last regular season due to a "family matter." While neither he nor the team ever disclosed what happened, Shams Charania reported that Wiggins' father was "dealing with a serious medical situation." Wiggins eventually returned for the start of the playoffs and appeared in all 13 games before the Lakers eliminated the Warriors in the second round.
"We're in a position where Wiggs is a private person and he's asked to keep it private and we're gonna honor that," Kerr said of Wiggins' most recent absence.
Overall, this has been a bit of a disappointing season for Wiggins, who briefly lost his starting role and is averaging 12.7 points and 4.3 rebounds on 45.5% shooting through 51 games. He had been playing better as of late, however, which coincided with the Warriors' hot streak.
They are 7-3 in their past 10 games, which has them in 10th place in the Western Conference. While they remain 2.5 games behind the Phoenix Suns for a top-six spot and a guaranteed playoff berth, they have a five-game lead on the 11th-place Utah Jazz and are in good shape for a Play-In Tournament berth.
With Wiggins now back in the fold, the hope is that he can add to Golden State's impressive stretch of games, specifically from youngsters such as Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski. It will be interesting to see how Kerr augments the rotation with Wiggins now back because, with the way Kuminga and Podziemski have been playing, there's a good chance he and Klay Thompson could both come off the bench going forward.
