Warriors insider clarifies report on Andrew Wiggins' conditioning
Andrew Wiggins has been under fire for his lack of summer conditioning. It turns out there’s a good reason he didn’t work out.
In an appearance on “The Morning Roast” on 95.7 FM, Golden State Warriors writer Anthony Slater explained that Wiggins couldn’t work out for much of the summer because of a broken rib suffered against the Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs.
When Wiggins collided with LeBron James, he broke a rib, which Slater called a “significant injury.”
“The medical team categorized the injury as a two-month absence in the regular season,” Slater reported. “Part of the reason he didn’t work much in the off-season was because he couldn’t really. Broken rib.”
While some football players will put on a flak jacket to protect sore ribs, the nature of the NBA’s start-and-stop motion makes rib injuries difficult to play through. Shooting in particular becomes extremely painful. That could be a factor in why Wiggins shot so woefully over the first 13 games of the 2023-24 season, when he went 5-for-37 from three-point range.
Perhaps his conditioning has improved since then, as Wiggins has made 11 of his 23 three-point attempts across the last five games, notching games of 31 and 29 points. He also had a late rebound and putback Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings that should have sealed the game for the Warriors.
Still, until Wiggins can start delivering consistently and get his three-point percentage over 30 percent, he’ll receive criticism from fans. Not to mention a lot of ribbing.
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