Golden State big James Wiseman needed this season more than anyone else, including Klay, on the Warriors roster. At least they had Jordan Poole to provide a Klay substitute. Golden State’s interminable search for a true big was supposed to end with Wiseman, and the former No. 2 overall pick was expected to be Golden State’s DeAndre Ayton. His rookie season was a montage of Wiseman’s Marvel superhero mix of size and athleticism, inconsistent play, and poor instincts on the defensive end.

Expectations were high for Wiseman’s second season. Wiseman will turn 21, but the demise of his sophomore campaign was entirely unexpected. He underwent meniscus surgery in April 2021, and was due back before the New Year. Surgeons performed an additional arthroscopic surgery done in December.

A glimmer of hope emerged when Wiseman was sent to the G-League affiliate in Santa Cruz where he averaged 17.3 points and 9.7 rebounds. However, this week’s swelling in Wiseman’s knee required the Warriors to pull the plug on his 2022 regular season, leaving his postseason participation in doubt. In situational matchups against a big body like Ayton, Embiid Wiseman would be a valuable asset for the Warriors to have at their disposal. Wiseman is a testament to the idea that even minor surgery is no such thing.

This is technically the third consecutive season that Wiseman hasn’t finished in the lineup since high school after leaving Memphis during an NCAA inquiry. If there’s one upside for Warriors fans and Wiseman to look to, Joel Embiid and Kristaps Porzingis are the last two promising big men who’ve missed entire seasons.

Jamal Murray established himself as one of the next three-level scorers until tearing the ACL in his left knee last April. Murray’s absence has robbed Denver’s 3-headed offensive chimera of one of its deadliest shooters. The threat of Murray rejoining the Nuggets has loomed over their season for months, but head coach Michael Malone announced that the Nuggets guard’s return was not close, which brought the Mile High City down a few 100 feet in altitude.

Without Murray, Nikola Jokic has upped his production, but the collective doesn’t reach the same heights; Their offensive rating in clutch time has dipped from 116 .1 in 2021 to 110.4 during the Murray-less season. Murray Watch will continue into the postseason, but his potential return is unlikely to be a spark given that he’ll be on a minutes restriction and due to Michael Porter Jr.’s

Kawhi Leonard is the Patron Saint of “F The Regular Season.” The two-team Defensive Player of the Year has missed over a third of his career games, but Clippers fans can take solace in knowing that he did not ghost them as he did to Pop and Co. in San Antonio. Leonard has essentially missed two seasons in his prime that could have ended in championships. The playoffs are still a possibility, but Leonard plays on his own terms and keeps things close to the vest.

Leonard’s initially left everyone in the dark when he missed Game 5 of the Conference Semifinals Finals with a “knee sprain.” He waited over a month to have his partially torn ACL repaired so that specialists could determine if the knee would stabilize on its own without surgery. Unfortunately, that lost time may be what keeps him from pursuing a championship to the Clippers. The Clippers have kept the window open for Leonard (and Paul George) to debut in the playoffs, but this also feels like a cosmic plot to let Clippers faithful down again. The keen eyes focused on Leonard Watch 2022 will closely resemble 2012’s melodramatic Derrick Rose Watch.