Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins looks like he’s ‘in a fog’ in slow start

But even with the positives, there is one major cause for concern so far: Andrew Wiggins looks like a shell of the player the Warriors saw during their 2022 title run.

While it’s still early, Wiggins’ per-game averages are down to career-low levels across the board: points (10.8), rebounds (3.4), assists (0.8), steals (0.1), field goal attempts (10.3), 3-point field goal percentage (17.6%) and free-throw percentage (53.6%). 

Wiggins is also only averaging 25.3 minutes per game — not just a career low, but more than six minutes less than the next-lowest mark of his career. It may be an intentional strategy decision from the Warriors, as they only have two players averaging more than 30 minutes per game (Curry at 31.8 and Klay Thompson at 31.4). They also have 10 players averaging at least 18 minutes a game, indicating they’re prioritizing getting a lot of guys run, for now.

But Wiggins hasn’t played 30 minutes or more in a single game this season. And he seems aware that he needs to step it up.

The picture is even worse when you look at advanced statistics like Player Efficiency Rating (PER), which measures a player’s per-minute production and standardizes the output so that a league average rating is 15. Out of the 85 players who have played at least 200 minutes this season, Wiggins has the worst PER in the entire NBA at 7.3. He’s also been one of the league’s worst players on the defensive end, as his Defensive Rating of 120.3 is the sixth-worst out of the 154 players averaging 25-plus minutes a game.

Is all of this a major concern for the Warriors? Steve Kerr didn’t seem to think so Sunday.

“It’s been a little bit of a slow start, but the defense is the key,” Kerr said after a loss to the Cavaliers. “His defense is always so important for us, and the better he is defensively, the more his offense will come. I’m not worried about Wiggs at all. It’s just a slow start. He’s got a long track record. He’s been with us for five years now, so he knows how we play. I can probably try to help him out a little bit with some things, but Wiggs will get there.”

The next night in Detroit, Kerr didn’t play Wiggins at all in the fourth quarter. After that game, Slater and his fellow Athletic writer Marcus Thompson discussed Wiggins’ rough start on the “Warriors Plus-Minus” podcast, with Slater saying Wiggins seems to be “in a fog” right now. Thompson agreed, saying it’s “weird to see Wiggins like this.”

It had people hopeful for a strong season this year from the 28-year-old.

So far, it’s been the opposite. The next data point will come Wednesday against Denver, as Draymond Green is out for personal reasons and Gary Payton II is questionable with an illness, Slater reported. That means there will be some spare playing time for Kerr to throw Wiggins’ way. 

With a national television audience watching, Wiggins could have a bounceback game and start to turn his season around. Or, the spotlight on Wiggins’ slow start will shine even brighter.