On Wednesday against the Houston Rockets, the Golden State Warriors will be without James Wiseman and Eric Paschall. According to Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic, the pair of Warriors are ruled out for the contest due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Along with both players, members from Golden State’s assistant coaching staff and developmental staff will not be on the bench due to contract tracing, per Slater.
Via @ShamsCharania of The Athletic:
Warriors center James Wiseman and forward Eric Paschall have entered NBA health and safety protocols and are out tonight vs. Houston, sources tell me and @anthonyVslater.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 17, 2021
Via @anthonyVslater on Twitter:
Contact tracing. A few of the Warriors' assistant coaches on the developmental staff will be entering health and safety protocols as well. Rough time for the Warriors to lose Wiseman and Paschall, just as they were prioritizing developmental minutes. https://t.co/oTJ66WHViH
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 17, 2021
This will be both Wiseman and Paschall’s second stint with the league’s health and safety protocols. Wiseman missed all of Golden State’s training camp and preseason due to reportedly testing positive for COVID-19 at the start of camp. Paschall missed the Warriors’ contest against the Indiana Pacers due to health and safety protocols. However, Paschall was able to return quickly after the test coming back as a false positive.
Without Paschall and Wiseman, Golden State’s second unit will be missing two key contributors. In 37 games, Paschall is averaging 9.5 points on 49.3% shooting from the field with 3.2 rebounds in 17.4 minutes off the bench. During his rookie season, Wiseman is tallying 11.8 points on 52.6% shooting from the field with 6.0 boards and 1.0 blocks per contest.
There’s still no timetable set for when Paschall and Wiseman can return to the bench.
With both players in the frontcourt out, the Warriors could turn to Juan Toscano-Anderson and Alen Smaialgic off the bench. Starters Draymond Green and Kevon Looney could have to play a bigger while the Warriors deal with a thin depth chart.
Golden State is slated to open a three-game road trip on Tuesday in Houston at 5 p.m. PT.
