The torture can’t be found in James Wiseman’s persistent smile. Isn’t revealed in his carefully crafted answers. But you know it’s there. It has to be.
It was already enough that he isn’t playing, his journey to return to action officially shut down back in March after another setback. He then had to sit and watch Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball, who sandwiched him atop the 2020 NBA draft, lead their teams into the playoffs. But the cruelty wasn’t over. Next, Wiseman got to experience his Warriors play postseason basketball in his hometown.
He was supposed to be the favored son coming home. When Three 6 Mafia performed at halftime and Moneybag Yo and Yo Gotti sat courtside, when the popular scene from the movie “Hustle & Flow” on FedEx Forum’s big screen, when they gave out dope rally towels featuring a hand twisted into an M — that was his culture on display. Wiseman is even more Memphis than the Grizzlies who wore the uniforms. He was supposed to be out there, a local success story on display.
“It felt good — I mean, it’s always good to be home,” Wiseman said last week during a chat with reporters. “It’s always good to just feel the energy and feel the atmosphere while being home. It kind of ticked me off a little bit because I wanted to play against Memphis because I was in my hometown.”
According to the Grizzlies, though, he will get another chance. After the Warriors beat Memphis to advance to the Western Conference finals, Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks said the Warriors are getting old and the young Grizzlies are coming for them in the future.
Indeed, the old Warriors were largely responsible for ousting the No. 2 seed in the West. It was 34-year-old Stephen Curry who averaged 9.4 points in the five fourth quarters he played in the series. It was 32-year-old Klay Thompson who made eight of his 20 threes in the series in the pivotal Game 6. It was 32-year-old Draymond Green who nearly put up a triple-double (14 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists) while helping hold Jaren Jackson Jr. to 5-for-19 shooting. It was almost-29-year-old Otto Porter Jr. who was a series-high plus-45.
But the Warriors being old is much more a reference to their top-heavy experience than their actual age. The Grizzlies, featuring 28-year-old Steven Adams as the team’s elder, are clearly younger than Golden State. But Brooks, for example, is a month older than Kevon Looney and just 11 months younger than Andrew Wiggins. Jordan Poole is not even two months older than Ja Morant. And the Warriors have one 19-year-old who started three games in this series (Jonathan Kuminga) and another one who, based on behind-the-scenes talk, was on the verge of getting rotation minutes (Moses Moody).
Undoubtedly, the Grizzlies’ young core — Morant (22), Jackson (22), Desmond Bane (23), Ziaire Williams (20), Brandon Clarke (25), De’Anthony Melton (23) — have a leg up in experience on the Warriors’ youngsters. They’ve gotten the minutes to develop and now have three playoff series under their belt. But the Warriors only expect to get younger from here. Poole is getting valuable experience as a frontline player. Kuminga and Moody are trending toward being in the rotation in the next series and for sure next year. And Wiggins is just entering his physical prime.
And the wild card that remains in the Warriors’ youth movement is Wiseman.
The best-case scenario: He will have an 18-month gap between NBA games, presuming he’s healthy and ready to go for the start of next season. In the three years since he graduated from East High in Memphis, Wiseman has played 42 total games in three years. July, the Warriors are hoping, will be his first summer league action.
But while the Warriors wait for his body to come around, the present task is to keep his mental together. If the journey of Klay Thompson has revealed anything, it’s how mental anguish is as great a challenge as any for an athlete on the shelf. And Wiseman’s tenure with the Warriors has been full of it. Perhaps he best summed up his career to this point in his song “Life’s Own Course.” Metaphorically speaking.
Got a new car with no mileage
I be looking fly — I don’t need a stylist
All these heavy thoughts getting real crowded
My navigation got re-routed
Indeed, the Warriors’ prized whip pretty much has no mileage on it, a silver lining for a franchise who always planned for Wiseman to be a post-dynasty core piece. But they are still holding out hope he can be a key piece of the near future, however unrealistic that may seem at this point. For all that’s happened, when you talk to Warriors people about him, they still can’t shake what they see behind the scenes. He looks fly enough to re-route their plans instead of canceling them altogether.
“But he’s so talented,” one person said. “I mean, so talented.”
They’re for sure pot committed on Wiseman. They didn’t cash him in during the trade deadline, when it was still viable he could play this season. Because of that, they are shorthanded on big men, a reality that was spotlighted against the Grizzlies. But the explosion of Poole, and the steady growth of Kuminga and Moody, even the recalibration of Wiggins’ game, fuels the franchise’s confidence they can do something with Wiseman. If they can, the Warriors’ youthful core combined with their still-high-performing superstars figures to create the shelf life of contention the Warriors hoped for when they undertook the risky win-and-develop plan.
But the degree of the plans’ success hinges on Wiseman. For that, they need him to come through these trying times. That’s where Shaun Livingston comes in.
“I’m tailor-made, to be honest,” Livingston, the three-time champion in his second season as Warriors’ director of player affairs and engagement, said while sitting on the visiting bench before Game 5 in Memphis. “Because of what I went through.”
If anyone can guide Wiseman through the range of emotions, to navigate the complexities of this experience, Livingston can.
Livingston knows Wiseman needs an outlet to vent because it’s so hard for most people to understand what he’s going through. The players who do, they’re too locked in to playing and can’t be his ear.
Livingston knows how doubt can creep in, how patience can slip through fingers. He still remembers advice Miles Simon, the former University of Arizona star, gave him years ago. They were at one of the famed open court sessions at UCLA as Livingston worked his way back. Simon told Livingston he would get back in due time, but it comes in stages. And right when he thought he was back, his body and game would plateau and have to push through that, too. His 23-year-old mind didn’t want to hear it but Simon proved right.
Livingston knows the invisibility Wiseman feels sometimes as a player in rehab. How he’s on the team but not really on the team. His practice jersey says Golden State. But players don’t truly feel part of the team until their on the bench in uniform, on the court battling it out.
“My thing is I’m trying to challenge him mentally, to stimulate him mentally,” Livingston said of his mentorship of Wiseman. “To help him think and process it all.”
Livingston gave Wiseman the book “The 5AM Club” to read. He shares with him stories from his path — which began with Livingston missing the entire season at age 22 and not really getting back to playing a full season until he was 25. He holds Wiseman accountable, asking him the questions that get passed the rehearsed answers young players like to give based on what they think people want to hear.
That’s 14 years of experience being poured into Wiseman. Old wine into the Warriors’ new wineskin.
For his part, Wiseman is down with the cerebral challenge. He’s fighting against the urges to be defeated, to close the window on bitterness. He’s rapping and making beats, one of his passions. He’s staying largely behind the scenes — scarcely on social media, rolling with a small circle, his family staying close. He said he finds inspiration in the rejuvenation of big men in the league: Nikola Jokic winning MVP and Joel Embiid coming in second, the Suns having the best record with DeAndre Ayton headlining a trio of centers, and even the Grizzlies having success going big. It’s a reminder he is still in demand.
He’s been traveling all playoffs and working with the Warriors’ staff. After the Warriors are done practicing, he usually takes the court by himself to get some work in, still smiling on the sidelines, chatting with teammates on the side.
It’s a bit of mental warfare returning from injuries. Wiseman declares he’s game.
“It’s all in the mental,” Wiseman said. “And also that’s in my DNA. So I’m not gonna ever give up. No matter how hard to get. I ain’t ever giving up.
“Just to be honest, I was pissed,” he later added. “Because I wanted to play … I wanted to play this season. But it is what it is. It’s life. I’m just gonna take it one day at a time. God’s got me and I don’t gotta worry about anything. I’ve just got my faith and that’s the only thing I need.”
The physical hurdles are still coming. They shut him down to make it as certain as possible he can finally get a full offseason in, including summer league and training camp. Then comes the task of getting him ready to contribute. Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. is often used as an example of what’s possible for Wiseman as he too missed a lot of time with the same injury. But Wiseman’s feel and instincts are behind because of his lack of playing time.
More frustration awaits him when he returns to the court. More patience will be required once he’s playing. But that’s the good time. Because he’ll be in the mix. He’ll have the chance to earn his minutes. Whether at backup center, or little-used big man biding his time. Even that will be a victory compared to what he’s gone through this season.
Another thing Livingston knows, something that can help Wiseman keep going, is the perspective will be different when he is back on the court. Wiseman could see it in Klay Thompson after Game 6.
“Gratefulness,” Livingston said. “Love of the game. Because now you know what it feels like for it to be taken away from you. It’s out of your control. And we all want to be in control. But he’s getting to learn this early. That’s why I’m grateful I got it early. When I got (to the Warriors), I appreciated it here. I didn’t like it every day, but I appreciated it.”
(Photo: Noah Graham / NBAE via Getty Images)