Wiseman attends jersey retirement
MEMPHIS >> The ceiling hangs low enough that Steph Curry wouldn’t be able to warm up. The walls are wood paneled and adorned with banners. The last time one went up, James Wiseman was here, finishing a decorated but controversial high school career.
This is East High, about 15 minutes east of Beale Street, where Wiseman was accompanied by his NBA teammates Monday night to his humble high school gym to watch his jersey go into the rafters. A lot has changed in three years.
“I was manifesting this when I was a younger kid. Just being able to be here in this moment, it’s crazy,” Wiseman said following the halftime ceremony, surrounded by a horde of local press. “It means a lot just being here.” Wiseman, who spent his final two years of high school here and eventually became embroiled in a recruiting scandal after moving on to the University of Memphis, arrived after tipoff and headed to a secure area in the second level of wooden bleachers overlooking the court. Curry, with a low-slung beanie in addition to his face mask that obscured his identity, was part of a caravan of Warriors teammates and coaches in attendance.
Below, prep players who walked the hallways with Wiseman as freshmen now stalk the court as seniors against an overmatched opponent from another nearby high school. Wiseman moved here from Nashville and played for Penny Hardaway, the former NBA player and a legend around these parts, who left after one season for the job at Memphis. When Wiseman graduated the following year — with honors, 4.0 student — Hardaway recruited him there.
This is where a teenaged Wiseman forged his path to the NBA. It is also, arguably, the last place he was consistently on the court. Two state championship banners from 2018 and 2019 represent that time. His newly retired jersey, which he hoisted above his head after receiving it, honors Wiseman’s individual accomplishments. No. 1 recruit, No. 2 draft pick.
It’s a coming-of-age milestone of sorts in the NBA to trek back to your high school alma mater, where local politicians, community leaders and an old basketball coach or two will clamor to claim credit for your success.
Wiseman enters this stage of his professional career at a precarious moment.
The Warriors made Wiseman the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, placing a bet on his raw talent and physical attributes despite only playing three games in his lone season at Memphis. On Tuesday, when he walks into FedEx Forum — home for the university’s hoops in addition to the NBA’s Grizzlies — Wiseman will take a seat on the bench and assume a viewing angle that’s become all too customary.
Wiseman hasn’t played a game since April 10, when he tore the meniscus in his right knee while going up for a dunk against the Houston Rockets in the 39th game of his rookie season. He has still yet to be cleared for contact in practice, leaving the timeline for his return cloudy, nine months after the injury.
“There’s a lot of doubters out there,” Wiseman said. “I’m just putting work. I’m gonna prevail. That’s all that matters.”
Wiseman’s presence in Memphis was a milestone of sorts in itself. He only began traveling with the team on its most recent road trip, and that occurred because the team’s director of performance, Dr. Rick Celebrini, also
made the trip, coach Steve Kerr said.
Wiseman was “bouncing around practice” Saturday, before the team departed for Memphis, according to Kerr.
“Just being with the team in a full practice setting has been very rare,” Kerr said. “I think it’s good to get him back with the team now every day, incorporating him into what we’re trying to do, get him used to all of our actions and our terminology because it’s been a long time since he played.”
Monday night at East High, police cars dotted the packed parking lot. Security turned away hopeful attendees at the door. Eight speakers, everyone from the Mayor to Wiseman’s final prep coach, eventually addressed the crowd before handing the microphone over to Wiseman.
On one side of Wiseman stood almost all of his Warriors teammates. In front of him were players he won banners with here, including two who went on to play with him at Memphis. Directly to the right of him was his mom, Donzaleigh Artis (“Mama D,” to those in the program), who uprooted from their hometown of Nashville to move here and pursue her son’s basketball dreams.
A local artist presented each of them a portrait, one of several gifts Monday night. Two versions of his No. 32 jersey — one maroon, one black, with block letters across the chest — were framed for the school to hang. The 28th of this month in Memphis will be
James Wiseman Day, a city councilman proclaimed. After that, the fabric of Wiseman’s time here will live on in the threads of those jerseys.
“I don’t know what to say,” Wiseman said, beginning to address the crowd. “I’m kind of in shock right now. First of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming out. It’s truly a blessing, truly a special night to witness with my teammates — my East High teammates back there, Memphis, and of course my Warriors teammates — I’m just blessed to be in this position.”