Early this morning, Warriors general manager and light-years proponent Bob Myers told 95.7 “The Game” that James Wiseman could potentially be spending a game or two in the G-League as a part of his rehab process. Myers ensured that it was just the “hope” and that nothing was solid yet, but barring some major slip, it’s expected these plans will carry through.

Wiseman has been playing full-contact, 5-on-5 scrimmages and has looked good prior to today’s news. Regardless, it was expected that there would be some on-court time spent for him in Santa Cruz based on his assignments to practice with them. He hasn’t spent major time with the Sea-Dubs yet, and likely won’t given his status as a number 2 overall pick, but for a rehab track, it would make more sense than say Klay Thompson having gone there (which he didn’t).

Big Jim’s progress has been very solid so far, despite some vagueness with his recovery timeline. It felt like the Dubs had jumped from him having arthroscopic surgery to clean out some scar tissue in December, to playing full-contact in late February.

The return to action comes at a perfect time, as the Warriors have shown the need for a big man in their rotation. While fans have complained at the lack of a center for a minimum contract, having Wiseman on his rookie deal and giving him minutes to develop will be more productive for a few reasons.

The first is that the young gun is already a serviceable center. He provides more meaningful minutes than anyone else the Dubs could get on a minimum contract by virtue of already being on the team. It also gives him time to develop at the end of the season, as a top-3 seed is all but secure. In fact, the Warriors may benefit a bit from tanking in their standings to the 3rd seed for a better playoff matchup (depending on how the rest of the West shakes out).

Wiseman also eliminates a major mismatch issue if he can even be a body on the floor for guys like Jokic or the Dallas Mavericks’ plentiful roster of bigs in a playoff series. Nobody expects him to be Draymond Green, but some relief minutes for the perennial Defensive Player of the Year against the league’s best bigs is never a bad thing.

Look to see Wiseman playing alongside G-League standouts like Quinndary Weatherspoon and JaQuori McLaughlin. The offense will likely look to involve him in a lot of actions or get him practiced on typical Warriors sets to get him ready for the big leagues, which should give a solid idea of where his floor is given he’ll be playing alongside Green and Stephen Curry when he makes his way up.

(Photo credit: David Zalubowski / Associated Press)