I remember watching James Wiseman during that Memphis-East Carolina game last season, and there was this moment early in the second quarter that perfectly captures both his tantalizing potential and the questions that still surround his NBA future. The Knights were absolutely rolling, up 29-12 and looking like they'd run away with it. You could see Wiseman's impact—his sheer physical presence altering shots, his athleticism in transition. But then something shifted. The champions, as they so often do, woke from their slumber. They started chipping away at that lead with methodical precision, and what struck me was how the game's momentum shift seemed to mirror the broader narrative of Wiseman's career so far.
When you look at Wiseman physically, he's everything you'd want in a modern NBA big man. Standing at 7-foot-1 with a 7-foot-6 wingspan, he moves with a fluidity that's rare for someone his size. I've always believed that true centers need either exceptional height or exceptional athleticism to dominate—Wiseman has both. During that Memphis game, there was a sequence where he switched onto a guard on the perimeter, stayed in front of him, then recovered to block a shot at the rim. Those moments make you understand why he was the second overall pick. The physical tools are absolutely there, and when he's engaged, he can take over stretches of games in ways few big men can.
But here's where it gets complicated, and where that East Carolina comeback becomes so telling. As the opponents started mounting their response, you could see Wiseman struggling to maintain his early dominance. It wasn't about physical ability—it was about the mental chess match, the adjustments, the little things that separate good players from great ones. This has been the story of his professional career too. He'll have games where he puts up 20 points and 10 rebounds, looking every bit the franchise cornerstone, then follow it with performances where he seems lost defensively or fails to impact the game beyond the occasional highlight play.
I've followed enough young big men to know that development isn't linear. Look at Jalen Duren in Detroit—another young center who's shown flashes but struggles with consistency. The difference I see is that Duren seems to have found a clearer role, whereas Wiseman is still searching for his basketball identity. Is he a traditional back-to-the-basket center? A pick-and-roll finisher? A stretch big? Through his first three seasons, he's averaged about 12 points and 7 rebounds per game, but those numbers don't tell the whole story. The advanced metrics show he's been below average defensively, with a defensive rating around 115 last season, which puts him in the bottom quarter of centers league-wide.
What fascinates me about Wiseman's situation is how much of his development has been affected by circumstances beyond his control. The limited college games due to eligibility issues, the injuries that cost him essentially his entire rookie season, being traded from Golden State to Detroit—these aren't minor setbacks. They're major disruptions that would challenge any young player's development trajectory. I sometimes wonder if we're too quick to judge players based on their draft position rather than their actual development path. If Wiseman had been a late first-round pick with the same production, we might be talking about him as a pleasant surprise rather than a disappointment.
The Warriors situation was particularly tricky. They were trying to win championships while developing a raw prospect, and the fit was never ideal. Steve Kerr's system demands specific skills from big men—setting solid screens, quick decision-making, defensive awareness—and Wiseman was learning on the fly during a championship window. When he moved to Detroit, I thought we might see a breakout, but the Pistons' crowded frontcourt and overall team struggles created another challenging environment. He did have that 23-point, 13-rebound game against Boston last season that showed what he's capable of when everything clicks.
Where I differ from some analysts is that I still believe in Wiseman's potential. He's shown enough flashes—the soft touch around the rim, the ability to run the floor, the shot-blocking instincts—to suggest there's a quality NBA starter in there somewhere. The question is whether he'll land in the right situation with the right coaching staff to unlock it. Big men typically take longer to develop, and Wiseman is still only 23 years old with less than 100 NBA games under his belt due to various setbacks.
What he needs most, in my view, is consistency—both in his environment and his own play. He needs a coaching staff that will commit to playing him through mistakes while simplifying his role. Rather than asking him to be everything, they should focus on maximizing what he does well right now while gradually adding to his game. The physical gifts are too special to write him off completely. I've seen players with far less talent carve out long careers by finding their niche, and Wiseman has the raw materials to be much more than just a role player if he can put it all together.
The NBA today values big men who can protect the rim, switch onto smaller players, and finish efficiently around the basket. Wiseman has shown he can do all these things in stretches. The challenge is doing them consistently within the flow of an NBA offense and defense. As teams play faster and space the floor more, his athleticism could become increasingly valuable if paired with improved basketball IQ and defensive positioning.
Thinking back to that Memphis game, what stayed with me wasn't the early dominance or the eventual comeback—it was watching a player with all the physical tools to control a game learning that basketball at the highest level requires more than just athleticism. The journey from prospect to established player is rarely straightforward, and for Wiseman, it's been more winding than most. But I'm not ready to close the book on him yet. The NBA has seen too many late-blooming big men to dismiss someone with his combination of size, skill, and untapped potential. Wherever he lands next, I'll be watching closely, hoping to see the player we caught glimpses of during those early minutes against East Carolina—not just in flashes, but for entire games, entire seasons.