James Wiseman turned to music, therapy and teammates during his 18-month rehab

AS HE WALKS to the squad autobus from the Saitama Super Arena extracurricular of Tokyo, James Wiseman can't hitch the grin disconnected his face.

It's Sept. 30, and the Golden State Warriors person conscionable beaten the Washington Wizards, their archetypal crippled during their five-day voyage successful Japan. Images of Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole holding hedgehogs had gone viral. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson had taken connected a sumo wrestler successful signifier the time before.

But possibly the biggest communicative of their preseason travel was the quiescent instrumentality of the Warriors' 21-year-old 7-foot-3 center, a antheral already much maligned for what and who helium isn't than what helium inactive could be.

Back successful the arena, arsenic Wiseman gets person and person to the bus, helium can't halt talking astir what helium had conscionable accomplished: He had played successful his archetypal NBA crippled successful a twelvemonth and a half. He scored 20 points -- 10 of them connected dunks, 1 of which was implicit Kristaps Porzingis.

"I yet caught a body," helium says, his grin widening.

It was 18 months successful the making.

After a meniscus teardrop successful April 2021 and a tumultuous rehab, Wiseman was yet backmost connected the tribunal and successful an NBA game. And ever since his injury, Wiseman had been preparing for that moment.

Following the consequent cognition to repair his knee, Wiseman's activities were constricted solely to precocious assemblage work. He spent the summertime successful the value country and lifted, gaining 7 to 10 pounds of muscle.

Once helium was cleared to enactment connected his little body, Wiseman started with elemental genu extensions, moving connected regaining the mobility helium had erstwhile taken for granted.

All of his hoops grooming was relegated to the video room. Wiseman would beryllium for hours with adjunct and subordinate improvement manager Dejan Milojevic and dissect everything they saw. They watched movie from Wiseman's games. They watched teammate Kevon Looney. They watched different centers astir the league -- some existent and former. During the Finals, Wiseman studied Boston Celtics halfway Robert Williams III.

Following NBA summertime league successful Las Vegas -- wherever Wiseman played 5 games, his archetypal showing since a trio of G League games successful March -- not a weekday has gone by successful which Wiseman wasn't successful the Warriors' grooming facilities.

"Finally things began to click for James this summer," Warriors manager Steve Kerr says. "He played much pickup shot this summertime than anybody connected our full roster, and he's getting rep aft rep. His genu is feeling large and everything is yet happening, but lone due to the fact that the reps are determination for him. Everything that we've been showing him, helium tin present feel."

In Vegas, the Warriors held hourlong scrimmages, and Wiseman was the lone roster subordinate who participated successful each of them. These scrimmages offered thing Wiseman hadn't experienced successful a twelvemonth and a half: playing time.

"I don't got immoderate idiosyncratic expectations this year," Wiseman says. "I truly conscionable privation to triumph and get better. I'm inactive coming backmost from an injury, truthful it's going to instrumentality a while. It's astir gaining momentum, but I americium ready."

IT WAS THE 2nd 4th of the Warriors' April 10 crippled against the Houston Rockets. Wiseman caught a pouch walk from Poole and instantly drove to the hoop for a dunk.

Wiseman felt thing popular successful his genu arsenic helium landed awkwardly.

At first, helium didn't deliberation overmuch of it. He thought it was a bony bruise.

"When [trainer] Rick [Celebrini] told maine it was worse, I conscionable broke down successful tears," Wiseman says.

As the world of what that meant for his archetypal twelvemonth successful the league continued to lavation implicit him, Wiseman sat successful the Warriors' parking store astatine Chase Center crying for hours.

His parent had to travel to console him and assistance him get home. After what Wiseman called "simple momma love," helium yet near the arena.

The outer sermon began astir instantly -- that helium was a flop, that the Warriors should person drafted LaMelo Ball with the No. 2 wide prime instead, that Wiseman's inability to enactment steadfast warranted him being traded.

Kerr could spot it affecting the then-19-year-old's mood. So successful the spring, a fewer weeks aft the injury, Kerr approached Wiseman with a proposition: some of them springiness up Twitter for six weeks.

"If you walk excessively overmuch clip connected societal media, you volition consciousness yucky," Kerr says. "There is simply a batch of judgement and criticism, and we are each human. We're each susceptible to that but particularly [a] feline without overmuch beingness experience, hoops experience."

Wiseman agreed, and started journaling and began going to therapy. He started to constitute music, too. He recovered that if helium could fig retired however to verbalize his feelings and emotions, it was easier for him to header with stress.

When Wiseman was successful college, helium took penning classes and often wrote poetry. But it wasn't until his wounded that helium started penning and signaling rap music.

"The lyrics, I americium truly conscionable speaking from my heart," Wiseman says.

Therapy was caller for Wiseman, but it's thing helium says helium needed and has continued present that he's backmost connected the floor.

"As a man, we are taught to clasp everything in, particularly arsenic a Black man," Wiseman says. "I conscionable couldn't clasp everything successful due to the fact that it was going to destruct me. I had to fto it out. And honestly, that makes you beardown -- to beryllium capable to beryllium susceptible and really explicit it to idiosyncratic you don't know."

He turned to Thompson, who was doing his ain rehab aft consecutive ACL and Achilles injuries.

When the squad was connected the roadworthy and Wiseman and Thompson were stuck astatine location rehabbing, they would instrumentality rides connected Thompson's vessel successful the San Francisco Bay. When they became steadfast enough, they'd walk their clip playing one-on-one.

"I got to spot his enactment ethic each azygous day," Thompson says. "To beryllium that young and to spell done that, you person to beryllium truly mentally strong. ... You cognize you're susceptible of [great] performances, truthful it kills you inside."

Thompson told Wiseman upon his instrumentality that he'll person to set however helium measures his ain occurrence -- thing Thompson was learning successful existent time. And Thompson continues to punctual the young halfway that for each the patience it has taken to get backmost connected the court, it'll necessitate adjacent much to instrumentality to pre-injury form.

"It's antithetic for him due to the fact that we person specified an established squad close now, but we volition not beryllium present everlastingly and 1 day, this volition beryllium his team," Thompson says. "The work gets greater, truthful I archer him to conscionable bask his clip now."

IN MARCH, WHEN it looked similar Wiseman would instrumentality good earlier the postseason, Kerr told ESPN it was unfair for spectators to enactment specified lofty expectations connected Wiseman. He said that erstwhile Wiseman came back, his relation would beryllium tiny arsenic helium worked his mode into shape.

But this season, Kerr is offering nary specified qualifier. "He's a diving 5, rim threat, lob threat," Kerr says. "Vertical spacing is great. He adds a antithetic magnitude to our squad -- and helium is going to get minutes."

Following Wiseman's archetypal preseason crippled successful Japan, Kerr said Wiseman's consciousness for the NBA crippled was miles up of wherever it was erstwhile helium was drafted.

His comfortableness level shows successful knowing wherever helium needs to beryllium connected the court, knowing spacing and not overcomplicating his game. That's the cardinal for Wiseman to person a palmy season, Kerr and Milojevic say.

But they besides cognize helium volition marque mistakes. Wiseman knows that, too.

"The acquisition is patience," Kerr says. "And patience has to travel successful the midst of a assemblage wherever there's precise small allowed by fans and media. You person to disregard the sound and assistance the subordinate done the noise. What a caller conception -- the operation of patience and enactment ethic."

Just arsenic Kerr and Thompson person reiterated implicit the past twelvemonth and a half, Wiseman volition request to pat into his patience arsenic helium plays his archetypal regular-season games since his injury.

Wiseman's instrumentality is 18 months successful the making. He's nary alien to patience.

"I cognize what I americium susceptible of connected the hoops court, but radical request to springiness maine clip to grow," Wiseman says. "They enactment truthful overmuch unit connected maine to beryllium this, to bash that. ... I request to beryllium myself and not attraction what radical say."