Golden State Warriors: Status of Andrew Wiggins and Young Core
The Golden State Warriors made five consecutive NBA Finals appearances from 2015-2019, winning three titles in this time span, but they have failed to make the playoffs in the last two seasons.
Injuries have hit the Warriors organization hard over the last couple of years, as Klay Thompson has been hit the hardest with a torn ACL and torn Achilles tendon in back-to-back years, but the 2021-22 season has a chance to be a major redemption year for this franchise.
Stephen Curry is coming off an MVP-like season and with a ton of other veteran talents on this roster, the Warriors will definitely be a title-contending team once again, especially when Klay Thompson makes his return to the court. However, there are some big questions about the status of starting wing Andrew Wiggins this season.
San Francisco is one of the cities in the United States that is requiring everyone indoors or in an arena to be vaccinated and Wiggins is currently unvaccinated. The NBA has denied the former No. 1 overall pick’s request for religious exemption, meaning that he could be in risk of sitting out home games for the Warriors this season if he does not get the COVID-19 vaccine.
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When asked about the vaccine and his decision during Media Day, Andrew Wiggins said that this was a “private matter” and that potentially sitting out Warriors home games and losing part of his pay was “his problem, not your’s” in reference to the reporters asking the questions.
If Wiggins does not get vaccinated and is forced to miss games early on in the season, the Warriors will absolutely be short-handed and this will affect their chances to win games early on in the year. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green will be healthy and do the best they can to give Golden State a boost, but without Wiggins, this Warriors team is extremely limited in terms of what they can do production-wise on the wing.
This is a huge development in the NBA right now and while it seems very contradicting that Andrew Wiggins would have to sit out home games in San Francisco because he is unvaccinated while opposing unvaccinated players would be allowed to play, these are the rules in place.
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Nothing really makes sense right now in terms of who can and cannot play in certain cities due to vaccine requirements, but the NBA is standing firm on their stance, forcing Andrew Wiggins to make a huge decision that could impact the Warriors’ chances to be great this season.
