While the Warriors will be without Klay Thompson this season as they look to once again be an NBA contender, they had the luxury of drafting No. 2 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft. Golden State selected James Wiseman, who was considered the best center in the entire draft.
Rookies often struggle in the NBA with the increased pace of play and a higher level of competition, but Steph Curry has high expectations for Wiseman. During training camp, he spoke with Nick Friedell of ESPN as well as other members of the media and addressed these expectations.
“He’s a second [overall] pick so the expectations are usually high comparing him to other top two draft picks in years past. Those comparisons, he’s not going to be able to avoid no matter what his average is or how many minutes he’s playing. But he’s definitely going to contribute and we’re gonna hopefully be able to unlock him this year to make us a much better basketball team.”
Wiseman only played in three games in college at Memphis but was impressive in this small sample size. He averaged 19.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game while shooting .769 from the floor.