SAN FRANCISCO – Warriors wing Andrew Wiggins on Wednesday night will miss a second consecutive game against the New Orleans Pelicans because of a lower back strain.
Wiggins went through a warmup on the Warriors’ practice court prior to tipoff but wasn’t deemed good to go. After the Warriors’ win Tuesday night against the Pelicans, coach Steve Kerr called Wiggins questionable to play the second night of their back-to-back and that he had a chance to play. He was listed as questionable on the injury report all of Wednesday, but the Warriors again will be shorthanded.
They’re also without Steph Curry (left foot/ankle) and De’Anthony Melton (back). Both Curry and Melton will be re-evaluated Friday ahead of the Warriors’ five-game road trip.
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In the game Wiggins’ was injured, a 112-104 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, he had his best offensive performance of the young season. Wiggins scored 29 points in the loss, and 11 came in the fourth quarter. He was 11 of 15 from the field and went 5 of 8 on 3-point attempts.
Through his first three games of the season, Wiggins is averaging 19.7 points per game on 55-percent shooting and 57.9 percent (11 of 19) from three. He only scored 29 or more points twice all of last season. Wiggins also grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in the second game of the season.
Without Curry, Wiggins and Melton, Kerr started Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield, Moses Moody, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis in Tuesday night’s win over the Pelicans. But to start the second half, Kerr replaced Hield with Lindy Waters III, which proved to be the perfect move.
Hield scored 25 of his 28 points in the second half while going a perfect 6 of 6 on 3-pointers, and Waters was a plus-21 with 12 points.
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The same group that started the second half Tuesday night will be the same starters Wednesday against the Pelicans, placing Waters in the backcourt with Podziemski and sliding Moody to small forward.
"He’s a very patient player,” Kerr said Wednesday of Waters in his pregame press conference. “He’s such a threat as a shooter that he causes a reaction from the defense, but he’s very smart. He just quickly moves that ball and that generates an advantage and the dominos start to fall and that’s when the ball movement starts to happen.
“Last night was our highest passing total of the season by far and Lindy was a big part of that because of the simplicity of his game and then at the other end he’s always in the fight, always in the mix. He’s a good rebounder, he’s got good size. He’s a hell of a player."
Waters has 108 career NBA games and has started only once. That came during his first NBA season as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 9, 2022, scoring eight points in a 30-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.