Golden State Warriors rookie James Wiseman will be out at least a week after suffering a sprained left wrist in Saturday night's win over the Detroit Pistons, the team announced Monday.
Wiseman, 19, underwent an MRI Sunday that confirmed the sprain. He will be reevaluated in 7-10 days.
"It's a bummer," said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who added that Wiseman is wearing a protective brace on the wrist. "But at least it's not anything worse and he should be back in 10 days or so."
Kerr said he still isn't sure how Wiseman's absence will affect the rotation. The Warriors are already playing short-handed after backup center Marquese Chriss suffered an ankle injury during a late December practice in Chicago. Chriss said recently that he wasn't sure if he would be able to play again this season as he continues his rehab process.
Kerr pulled Wiseman from the starting lineup last week in favor of veteran Kevon Looney.
"Obviously, we aren't going to change the starting lineup," Kerr said. "Loon will start. Eric [Paschall] will still get his minutes at the 5 and then we'll have to go from there. We can obviously play Draymond [Green] at the 5. Juan [Toscano-Anderson] will be active and ready to roll. And we'll mix and match and figure out what we're going to do."
Looney, who said he expects to play a few more minutes in Wiseman's absence, noted that the rookie's spirits remained high despite the injury setback.
"It's a blow to our team," Looney said. "But glad it's just a short-term injury, not something long-term. We had our fair share of injuries with this team last year and some this year ... but it's going to be tough without him, but not having that many centers already on the team due to health [issues] so we'll have to figure it out. Me, Eric, Draymond, Juan. Everybody's got to step up at the big-man role. [Wiseman] brings a lot to the table for this team."
Wiseman has flashed the potential that made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, averaging 12.2 points and 1.3 blocks in 21 minutes per game this season.
