Former first overall pick Andrew Wiggins will make his debut with the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, at 8:30 p.m EST on ABC, as the Warriors take on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers at home (per The Athletic’s Anthony Slater). Wiggins was acquired by Golden State on Thursday — the day of the NBA’s trade deadline.
Averaging 22.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.7 steals per game in what’s been his best all-around season, Wiggins will get plenty opportunity to get comfortable in his new home arena as the Warriors are still without the superstar duo of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
With Golden State (12-40) at the bottom of the Western Conference standing and the Lakers at the top (38-12), the Warriors likely aren’t expecting to win tonight, even if their new small forward was the 2015 Rookie of the Year.
However, Wiggins is notoriously known for stepping up his play whenever he faces LeBron — the player who orchestrated his trade out of Cleveland when he decided to return to the Cavaliers — so Golden State fans may see a strong performance from the highly-talented wing, which bodes well for his reception from his new teammates, coaching staff and the fanbase.
Last season, Wiggins averaged 31.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game when he played against Golden State, so there’s already enough evidence in recent memory to suggest that the highly-talented wing will be able to have great performances against the best teams. Even though Warriors head coach Steve Kerr doesn’t need him to be a star, it’ll be a fine start to his Warriors tenure if he has one of those games against LeBron and company.
