When James Wiseman entered the NBA in 2020 as the second overall draft pick he probably was not thinking how an injury would slow his career.
His first season in the league ended prematurely after 39 games due to a torn right meniscus that he suffered in 2021. The 21-year-old center revealed how the injury affected him.
“When I first got injured, I was crying so hard I couldn’t even get to my mom’s apartment,” Wiseman recalls. “My mom had to carry me to her apartment. I was just crushed. Having a lot of nights where I was crying a lot, like a lot of times where I had thoughts like …” he trails off for a minute, eyes glancing through rain-flecked, floor-to-ceiling windows high up in a quiet room on the top floor of Chase Center.
Wiseman had to miss the entire 2021-2022 season due to the injury. This season he is averaging 9.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 14.8 minutes per game for Golden State.
