Warriors’ James Wiseman out at least a week with a sprained left wrist

James Wiseman suffered a sprained left wrist in Saturday night’s win over the Detroit Pistons, the Warriors announced Monday.

The second-overall pick in November’s draft will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days, according to the team, which will sideline him for up to five games. It’s a significant hit to the Warriors depth, as they have only one healthy center on the roster.

“Glad it’s just a short-term thing,” said Kevon Looney, Golden State’s starting center, “but it’s going to be tough, not having that many [healthy] centers already on the team.”

The injury occurred in the third quarter of Saturday night’s win, when Wiseman fell awkwardly on his left wrist after getting bumped by Pistons’ rookie center Isaiah Stewart while going up for an alley-oop. Wiseman was shaken up but continued to play in the game. An MRI on Sunday revealed the wrist was sprained.

In 20 games, Wiseman averaged 12.2 points on 50% shooting, 6.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 21 minutes per game.

After starting at center the first 16 games, Wiseman backed up Looney in the last four. Though he started on opening night despite missing training camp and preseason after recording a positive coronavirus test, the 19-year-old was benched after struggling in back-to-back losses to the New York Knicks and Utah Jazz late last month.

Nevertheless, Wiseman played well off the bench, averaging 13.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. In last Wednesday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, he had 25 points, six rebounds and two blocks in 24 minutes.