Present alongside Andrew Wiggins at the press conference on the sidelines of the match between the Warriors and the Thunder, Bob Myers, general manager of Golden State, spoke about the situation his player was going through. Touching words that recall what many sometimes forget: sport is not always the number 1 priority for professional athletes.
Finally back in the Chase Center, Andrew Wiggins received a standing ovation from the entire crowd and his teammates. The most beautiful way to tell him that he was never alone during his absence, while his dad had quite serious health problems. The images are bound to be moving. Present with the Wig’ at a press conference, Bob Myers did not fail to remind the media that they had made the right choice by not dealing with such a subject.
“Above all, thank you for respecting Andrew’s life and privacy for the past six weeks. I know the job of all of you in the room is to find exclusives and find answers. I really liked the way you covered the situation, it means a lot to me, to Andrew. It’s pretty rare now in your business to respect the personal life of someone who is doing a ‘public’ job” – Bob Myers
Of course, his words also took aim at the Warriors franchise in general. The opportunity to declare that basketball is good, but family is better. Nothing should come above the family. And with that in mind, the franchise and Bob chose to let Andrew go, because that’s what he needed the most.
“I also want to thank our franchise for handling this in such a way. Basketball is important here, but it will never be more important than family… and that will never change. When a player or an employee of our organization has to manage a concern involving his family, we support him 100%. Everything that happened was not a difficult decision for us, on the contrary. Basketball is Andrew’s job, it’s mine too…but it’s not our lives. I tell you Andrew: I was sad that you had to leave us” – Bob Myers
The opportunity also to reflect on sport in general, and on the growing media coverage behind the scenes. The idea is not to make a well-meaning and opportunistic morality, but just to raise in everyone’s minds that behind the stars and the big parties, they are above all men, with feelings and lives personal.
“I think something that’s been lost in the sports world, and in this play, is that players have lives and families. I know it sounds logical, but it gets lost. When you work here, you get to know Andrew as a man, not just as a 20-point average player. When you know that someone you know is going through a very bad patch, the first questions are ‘how to help..? Are you OK ? What do you need ?’
In that case, Andrew needed to be away from here, and whatever he needed, we just wanted to help him. Andrew is someone who has made sacrifices for this franchise. Some you know, some you don’t. The jersey is not the priority here, and when we spoke, it was more to know how you are doing than to talk about basketball. I’m proud of the franchise, the players, the coaches, the management, and the media. Some of you knew what was going on, and you didn’t write it down. I thank you and respect you for that” – Bob Myers
Standing ovation for Andrew Wiggins, back on the Warriors bench ????pic.twitter.com/O1T4gmVT36
— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) April 5, 2023
Touching words, for Andrew Wiggins first. He knows that his return is expected, but first on a human level… because it means that he feels ready to face the NBA and that he is therefore better in his head.
Source : Warriors PR.