Paul George vs. Andrew Wiggins is the Warriors matchup to watch vs. 76ers – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

Deeply disappointed after missing the playoffs last spring, the Warriors ventured into the summer vowing to make significant upgrades to the roster. At the top of their wish list was six-time AllStar Paul George, then with the Los Angeles Clippers.

However, the Clippers were unwilling to make a deal where George would land with Golden State. They opted to let George enter the free agent market, putting him out of reach for the salary cap-strapped Warriors and into the lap of the Philadelphia 76ers, one of the few teams with enough cap space to offer a max contract ($212) million, four years).

So George’s first game this season at the Chase Center will be as an opponent. The 76ers (13-18) and Warriors (16-16) meet Thursday night, with tipoff scheduled for shortly after the 7th.

The man the Warriors targeted will spend a long time meeting Andrew Wiggins, one of the players who interested the Clippers when the teams considered offers last summer.

Wiggins’ season has been one of peaks and valleys. He is averaging 16.4 points per game. game, third on the team and shooting 44.6 percent from the field, including 40.7 percent from distance. He is one of three Warriors — Stephen Curry and Jonathan Kuminga are the others — to score at least 20 points in nine games.

But Wiggins has reached 20 points just once in the last seven games and has 23 total over his last three games on 10-of-32 shooting from the field, including 3-of-14 from deep.

This game should show Wiggins’ pride to the fullest. He loves the Golden State franchise and knows he almost certainly would have gone to the Clippers in any deal that brought George to the Warriors.

Although George will face a number of defenders, including Draymond Green and Kuminga, it is Wiggins who has something to prove. If George, averaging 16.1 points while shooting 41.5 percent from the field, including 32.8 from deep, has the superior game, it puts Philly in position to win.

Wiggins needs a strong game to pull himself out of his tailspin, as do the Warriors, who have lost 13 of their last 17 games and are hoping to use the current home stretch to make amends.

The 76ers are also trying to move up in the standings. They are trying to climb out of the hole they fell into earlier, losing 12 of their first 14 games while navigating injury-related absences of Joel Embiid and George. George is healthy, but Embiid is listed as questionable with a sprained left foot.

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