Despite The Limited Sample Size, Detroit’s James Wiseman Is Playing Arguably The Best Basketball Of His NBA Career

The 2022-23 Detroit Pistons have the ninth-youngest roster of any NBA team this season and it’s come with a lot of growing pains. Detroit currently has the leagues third-worst record at 15-47 and are 14th in the Eastern Conference. Before the trade deadline, Detroit made a move for Golden State’s James Wiseman who the Warriors were willing to give up for little in return. In the limited sample size we’ve seen the Wiseman play for the Pistons, he’s arguably playing the best basketball of his career. 

James Wiseman was under a lot of pressure with the Golden State Warriors as they drafted him with the second overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft. He played in 39 games in his rookie season and made 27 starts, but missed all of last season with a knee injury.

Now he has a chance to revive his career in a smaller market team where their might be less expectations and Wiseman can play more freely. NBA betting sites have the Pistons at over (+100000) to win the Finals this season.

I have no idea if James Wiseman is going to have a nice career or come close to living up to being the 2020 No. 2 overall pick. But I'm glad he's no longer wallowing in the Bay & getting this chance in Detroit to remove any about whether or not he has game pic.twitter.com/cdqgYcXmlP

— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) February 28, 2023

Detroit may have been the perfect place for Wiseman to try and revive his young career

The 21 year old played in just 21 games for the Warriors this season before being traded at the deadline. Wiseman is now with the Detroit Pistons and he’s thriving with them. In four games played with two starts he’s averaging (13.0) points and (8.0) rebounds on (23.5) minutes played per game.

Last night in the Pistons 117-106 loss to the Hornets, Wiseman had his best game yet with Detroit in his second start. He finished with 23 points and 7 rebounds on 9-11 shooting from the field and 27 minutes played. You can see that he’s playing more free as a member of the Pistons and that’s a good sign for himself and the team in the future.

The former Warrior James Wiseman is out in Detroit rapping AND ballin, tonight 23pts on 9/11 shooting, 7reb, 0 turnovers & 0 fouls in 27mins. 🥹🥹🥹 #dubnation https://t.co/hJo1MP4QYf

— Kylen Mills (@KylenMills) February 28, 2023

In an interview, Wiseman gave his take on why he was not able to thrive with the Golden State Warriors.

“When I was at Golden State, it was kind of hard for me because they already had a really core base group. They already had (Kevon) Looney, Klay (Thompson), Steph (Curry) and Draymond (Green), so it was hard for the young players to grow and go out there and play and get the reps. Being here, I can grow into the player I want to become.” – James Wiseman

The sample size is limited for his time with the Pistons, but it’s clear that the second-overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft is happy with his new team. Detroit has 20 regular season games left this year.