Andrew Wiggins returns to Warriors after ‘serious family matter’

Andrew Wiggins was back at the Warriors’ practice facility Tuesday following a week-long absence while he tended to a family matter last week. 

Video posted by ESPN confirmed what The Athletic’s Shams Charania first reported that the team expected him to be back and that he was en route to the Bay Area. 

Wiggins, who missed the team’s last four games, is expected to play Wednesday night when the Warriors host the Bucks, head coach Steve Kerr told reporters, The Athletic reported. 

Video from Tuesday’s Warriors practice showed Wiggins, 29, working on his corner 3-pointers with two members of Golden State’s coaching staff. 

Wiggins wasn’t in the lineup when the Warriors were rocked by the Celtics on Sunday night in a 140-88 blowout loss, but Golden State had won the previous three games before that during Wiggins’ absence. 

The Warriors turned to Moses Moody to start in place of Wiggins while he was away and filled in admirably. 

Wiggins will likely move back into his starting small forward role when he jumps back onto the court. 

On Thursday, Danny Green addressed Wiggins’ absence and the balance to be sensitive to people’s personal lives during an interview on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco. 

“I think there’s plenty of guys that don’t know what’s going on,” Green said during the interview last week. “With Kawhi Leonard [in San Antonio] I didn’t want to pry about his injury if he didn’t want to tell me. But it’s tough as a team, because you have to be the middle-men of trying to answer questions for somebody. There’s going to be a ton of questions, it could be a distraction.

“But you have to move with sensitivity and empathy because you never know. I hope fans stick with Wiggins.”

Golden State is pushing to move up in the Western Conference standings as it sits in 10th heading into Tuesday’s action. 

After going 11-3 in their previous 14 games, the Warriors find themselves within striking distance of moving out of a play-in round.