Preview: Curry’s Warriors take on LaMelo’s Hornets at Chase Center

The Charlotte Hornets are coming to town to face the Golden State Warriors in Chase Center. There’s three reasons this game will have a little extra edge for Dub Nation; let’s dive into ‘em. 81-1 on the way!

LaMelo Ball vs James Wiseman(‘s potential)

There’s a lightweight civil war breaking out with basketball fanatics over Golden State passing over Lavar Ball’s baby boy to draft the young titan James Wiseman.

I mean, there’s no doubt Ball has made a faster impact on the game than Wiseman. He’s the reigning rookie of the year and the best player on an upstart Hornets team, guiding them to a near play-in berth last year and a 5-3 record so far this season.

He’s arguably the most exciting passer in the NBA, and he’s the youngest player in NBA history to post a triple-double. LaMelo’s got Charlotte energized for the first time since Larry “Grandmama” Johnson! WELCOME TO THE BIG BALLER ZONE!

Here’s our own Brady Klopfer talking about this conundrum in this February piece entitled, “Should the Warriors have drafted LaMelo Ball?”:

Ball may have already upgraded from “star in the making” to just “star.” The book on Ball was always that he had the most star potential of any player in the draft. It was just a matter of how quickly he could actualize it, and how much value he could provide along the way.

It seems the answer to those questions is “quickly” and “a lot,” respectively.

On the other hand, Wiseman has been riddled with injury issues while trying to find his role with future hall-of-famers like Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. That’s a completely different situation than Ball has found himself in, and we’ll have to see over time if Wiseman can capture the imagination of the fans the way the guy drafted after him was.

Curry and Green are a huge reason Wiseman is probably a lot closer to winning a title THIS year than Ball. The Warriors off to a red-hot 5-1 start with a bevy of floor spacing that Wiseman theoretically would neatly fit into as a rim-rattling athletic monster. I mean, there’s gotta be a reason Andre Iguodala said Wiseman has “no idea of how good he’s going to be”, right?

CUE THE PRACTICE FOOTAGE FROM THE GYM! Can’t wait till Wiseman’s playing again.

The return of the tsunami

Speaking of guys who didn’t realize their sky-high potential in GSW last season? Kelly Oubre Jr.! Remember him? If not, it’s all good! We can defer to Duby Dub Dubs of Dub Nation HQ for his season reviews. Here’s his thoughts on Oubre aka “Tsunami Papi’s” performance:

Coming off a knee surgery, Oubre has a historically bad shooting start to the season before stabilizing into a prized rotation player - until a series of injuries ended his season prematurely. In the end, his time with Golden State was very much a mixed bag.

There’s a kamikaze element to Oubre’s game. Never shy about driving into a defense, or being a defensive pesk, it’s telling that he was a part of the team’s best units - even though many of the team metrics don’t look too favorable for him.

Oubre had some amazing moments as a Dub (like dropping 40 points)...

...but he was not the consistent 3-and-D complement (31% shooting from beyond the arc last season) to Curry that many in Dub Nation were hoping he could be .

Steph Curry’s got family ties to Charlotte

Curry’s family is from Charlotte and he always seems to have an extra gear when he plays against them, which is saying something since his regular gear is MVP mode. Curry averages 27.3 PPG against them (his fourth highest scoring average against any franchise).

His father Dell, a Hornets legend, is on commentary for Charlotte. And the team is owned by Michael Jordan, a guy Steph would love to impress by annihilating his team.

This should be a good one, folks! HORNETS, WARRIORS, NEXT!

Game details

WHO: Golden State Warriors vs Charlotte Hornets

WHEN: Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021; 7:00 pm

WHERE: Chase Center — San Francisco, CA

WATCH: ESPN, NBCS BAY AREA

BLOG BUDDY: At The Hive