SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green participated in team practice on Saturday for the first time since he was sidelined with a back injury, an encouraging development for a Golden State Warriors team in desperate need of his leadership on defense.
Progress came with some murky news, though; Green, rehabbing a lower back injury since Jan. 9, still hasn’t been told when he will return to game action. How his strength and conditioning progress on a day-to-day basis will determine a return date.
“Still a little ways away, but overall I feel great,” Green said. “I was dominating when I got hurt, I plan on coming back and dominating. I don’t want to limp back out there and figure it out as I go. I want to come back stronger than when I left. I’m still a little ways away from that. And that’s OK.”
Extended rehab is unfamiliar territory for the 32-year-old forward/center, but Green says he’s seen dramatic change in his conditioning over the last few weeks and is encouraged by his progress. He can’t predict when he will be ready for game action.
“My progress has been tremendous,” Green said. “Where I am today, if you knew where I was eight weeks ago, seven weeks ago, it’s night and day.”
Though no return date is set, Green took a significant step on Saturday. He did not participate in a contact practice, but did shooting drills, 5-on-0 work and resumed his role as a vocal team leader.
“It’s great to have his energy back in the gym, his voice,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He looked great physically. He’s excited to get back, so that’s a very positive step for him and we will go from here.”
On Feb. 3, Green estimated a three-to-four week timetable for return, but warned his rehab may exceed that ambitious timeline. While working as a sideline reporter during the All-Star game on Feb. 20, Green let slip that he would need another three or four weeks.
Green was cleared for basketball activity in late January and had only done individual work until Saturday. Now he’ll wait for the green light to scrimmage from Warriors director of sports medicine Rick Celebrini.
“As someone who hasn’t been injured to this magnitude, you don’t know how slow or fast things will progress,” Green said.
Though Green couldn’t specify how many regular-season games he would need to ramp up properly for the playoffs, the Warriors will need him back, healthy, to be strong title contenders. In 29 games played together, Golden State’s lineup that features Steph Curry, Green, Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole is still one of the NBA’s most impactful and efficient lineups on the offensive and defensive end.
Save for a ceremonious seven seconds on Jan. 9, Green and Klay Thompson have yet to share the court together this year. Golden State holds the Western Conference’s second seed without having played a single game with Curry, Thompson and Green on the court together.
Green was putting together a season worthy of Defensive Player of the Year honors before the injury. He lifted the Warriors to be the NBA’s No. 1 defense before his injury and helped close games with his defensive play at center. An impressive skill for a 6-foot-9 player drafted as a power forward.
The Warriors will need him to play center in crunch time, presumably, when he returns. Green said he’s not concerned about playing those taxing minutes at center off injury.
“I don’t get caught up in whether I’m going to play more center or not,” he said. “Because if I am playing center, I need to do what I have to do at the center position to impact the game for us in a positive way. And if I am at the center position, that’s usually a problem for the other team.”
James Wiseman’s progress
Wiseman was assigned to the Santa Cruz Warriors on Friday to scrimmage against the G-League affiliate and was reassigned to Golden State on Saturday afternoon. The transaction was mostly logistical — turns out, the Santa Cruz Warriors traveled to San Francisco to practice with Wiseman on Friday afternoon, Kerr said.
While the scrimmage went “really well” and Wiseman “looked good,” there is still no timetable for his return to game action. Nearing 11 months since he underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, Wiseman’s timetable is still day-to-day and he will continue to participate in contact practices and scrimmages with the Warriors.
“We’re literally just taking it a day at a time,” Kerr said.
The Warriors’ training staff will decide if Wiseman will travel with the team on their upcoming road trip or stay back and practice in San Francisco. There are no immediate plans to have Wiseman play a game with Santa Cruz.
Though the Warriors are in desperate need for Wiseman’s length and size at the center position, don’t expect the second overall pick to play a major role down the stretch when he makes his anticipated return.
“The thing I’ve been preaching is this is a really young guy that’s barely played,” Kerr said on 95.7 The Game. “The expectations should not be too high for him this year given how good our team is. Where we are as a franchise.”
