It’s time for war. After an up-and-down regular season, the Golden State Warriors achieved the first goal in defending the title: making it to the NBA playoffs. Sure, they would prefer to be higher than the sixth spot they’re in. However, considering how the rest of the year went, Golden State feels happy skipping the Play-In. It seems like the Warriors will get another boost for the NBA playoffs: Andrew Wiggins, who is planning to return in Game 1, per Kendra Andrews.

Wiggins has been away from the Warriors due to a family problem he was dealing with. There was a lot of speculation around the reason behind his absence, much of which were… salacious, to put it lightly. It turns out, though, that Wiggins was with his father, who was dealing with a medical emergency, the entire time.

The Warriors did well by giving Andrew Wiggins enough time to make sure his family’s fine. Rushing him back would likely just do more harm than good. However, the team definitely wants him to be ready for the playoffs. Hopefully, Wiggins will be in the right headspace when he returns.

Andrew Wiggins’ NBA playoffs return suddenly makes the Warriors a much more formidable foe. Just like last year, they boast an array of defensive-minded wings around their usual scoring trio of Stephen Curry, Jordan Poole, and Klay Thompson. Wiggins also gives the Dubs a bit of a scoring boost as well as his strong rebounding presence.

First up for the Warriors in the NBA playoffs is a California clash with the Sacramento Kings. It’s a bit surprising for the Warriors to be the “underdog” against the Kings, but that shouldn’t matter for the champs.