Andrew Wiggins to make preseason debut versus Lakers Tuesday

The Warriors forward is over the illness that has kept him out of the team’s first four exhibition games.

After a lingering illness that kept him out for the first four games of the preseason, Andrew Wiggins is coming back Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

Wiggins was reportedly in tremendous shape entering camp, before being sidelined by an illness that kept him out of early games. He missed a few early training camp practices, though he did continue to shoot around while wearing a mask.

Now he’ll be back Tuesday for a Warriors team that’s been experimenting with different starting lineups and combinations for its first four games while dealing with injuries. Steph Curry missed Sunday’s victory over the Detroit Pistons after jamming his right index finger, though he’s expected to play Tuesday night. Brandin Podziemski won’t play after breaking his nose.

With Wiggins, the Warriors’ biggest concern seems to be his conditioning more than his fit. With his illness forcing him to take a hiatus from workouts, the 29-year-old is about to embark on a time-honored Warriors tradition known as “ramping up.”

“You lose it fast when you get sick,” Wiggins told reporters Tuesday. “I’ve been doing a lot of extra stuff to get my conditioning back, get myself right.”

Wiggins had a similar conditioning issue last season, but that was due to the effects of an injury suffered in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers. He fractured a rib, a lingering injury that kept him from working out hard for much of the summer. Later, Wiggins slammed his finger in a car door, and sprained his ankle. While it felt like he was snakebitten, he actually only missed 11 games, though he seemed hampered at the beginning of the season.

This summer, the Warriors kept Wiggins from playing in the Olympics for Team Canada for fear of an injury — while rumors had it they were shopping him on the trade market. He also had to deal with the death of his father, Mitchell Wiggins, whose serious medical issues were the impetus for two leaves of absence from Wiggins in the last two seasons. Picking up a severe illness was just one more blow.

Without Klay Thompson, the Warriors need Wiggins’ scoring punch more than in previous seasons, while they’re also working out whether he can play effective minutes alongside Jonathan Kuminga.

For now, they’ll just see how well Wiggins can hang with the speed of an NBA game, albeit a meaningless one. The team has a great deal of wing depth behind Wiggins this season, plus a whole lot of three-point shooting so far, but the best version of the Golden State Warriors involves their best two-way wing playing at his best.

Would we bet on the team getting that from Wiggins this season? Hey, that’s why they’re playing this game in Vegas.