Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr provided an update on star forward Andrew Wiggins ahead of the team’s 109-106 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Friday. Wiggins, who has missed all three preseason games due to illness, is close to returning.
Coach Kerr confirmed the one-time champion has resumed training with the team but has not participated in scrimmages. Kerr also announced that Wiggins will likely miss the Warriors’ upcoming preseason game against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday but is expected to make his season debut against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
The Warriors have three preseas on games left and Wiggins is expected to play in two. Steph Curry and Co. will tip off their regular season on Oct. 23 against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Steve Kerr wants Andrew Wiggins to step up
Andrew Wiggins played a crucial role in the Golden State Warriors’ 2022 NBA championship run. However, since then, the former Minnesota Timberwolves star has struggled to regain his form, which Coach Kerr attributes in part to the challenges Wiggins faced due to his father’s health issues.
With Klay Thompson now with the Dallas Mavericks, the Warriors coach expects Wiggins to step up this season and take on the role of being the Warriors’ second-best scorer behind Steph Curry.
“To me, I’ve already told him: six 3-pointers a game,” Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke. “He is a really good 3-point shooter. It was down a little bit last year, but since he’s been here, 39, 40 percent. I want a lot of 3s and I want a lot of attacks to the rim. He shot 80-plus percent from the foul line in the second half of the year last year.
“He looks really comfortable in every aspect of the game. And let’s face it, with Klay gone, we need him to step up and be our second scorer after Steph, and we know he’s perfectly capable of that.”
Regarding Wiggins’ 3-point shooting, he attempted just 3.6 shots from beyond the arc last season, considerably less than coach Kerr’s expectations. In the 2022-23 season, Wiggins averaged 6.1 attempts from deep, shooting a respectable 39.6%. However, this came from a limited sample size as he played only 37 games that season.
Throughout his career, Wiggins has averaged 4.1 3-point attempts per game, shooting 35.4% from beyond the arc.
