Warriors select James Wiseman with No. 2 pick in NBA Draft

The Golden State Warriors add to their wealth of talent by taking James Wiseman out of Memphis with the second-overall pick.

The Golden State Warriors are coming off an uncharacteristically bad season, but that can be credited to the injuries to stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. But, their poor season was all for naught, as they own the second-overall pick. Even though there was talk of them flipping the pick for a veteran player to make a run at the NBA Championship.

The Warriors, however, opted to keep the pick, and they selected Memphis big man James Wiseman with the second-overall pick.

Warriors couldn’t pass up on Wiseman

As mentioned earlier, there were multiple rumors that the Warriors would trade out of the second slot in the draft order. Last week, there was a report that Golden State would send their first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for LaMarcus Aldridge. Then on Draft Day, there was buzz that the Chicago Bulls would try to swap picks with the Warriors to select Wiseman. Instead, the Warriors decided to take the Memphis center themselves.

It was a foregone conclusion that Wiseman was going to be a top-two selection in this year’s draft class. Standing at 7-1 and weighing in at 241-pounds, the Warriors are getting a dominant presence inside the paint. Wiseman only played in three career games at Memphis after he withdrew from school due to eligibility issues. In those games, Wiseman averaged 19.7 points. 10.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks, while shooting an absurd 76.9-percent from the field.

Prior to the NBA Draft, the Warriors and the basketball world learned that Thompson went down with a right leg injury. In lieu of that news, many thought the Warriors would pivot to selecting a guard to fill-in for Thompson. That didn’t happen, as Golden State selected the top prospet on the board in James Wiseman.