Green will miss the Warriors’ next two games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, then games against the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs. He should return for an in-season tournament game against the Sacramento Kings on Nov. 28.

The NBA’s punishment is in line with what the league established as something of a repeat-offender rule for Green during the playoffs last season after his entanglement with Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis that led to a one-game suspension. Green’s punishment is harsher because of his history with the league.

“The length of the suspension is based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts,” NBA executive vice president Joe Dumars said in the league statement announcing the suspension.

Klay Thompson, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert were each fined $25,000 for their involvement in the skirmish.

Green was ejected two minutes into Tuesday’s game along with Klay Thompson and Timberwolves’ forward Jaden McDaniels, who got into an altercation after a handsy box-out and McDaniels ripped Thompson’s jersey. Both teams, coaches and security got involved to separate the two, and Green caught Rudy Gobert pulling Thompson away from the scuffle by the neck and grabbed Gobert in a headlock to pull him away.

In a pool report, game officials said Gobert was acting as a “peacemaker,” which absolved him of a foul called against him in real time.

“It’s kind of funny because before the game, I was telling myself that Steph is not playing, so I know Draymond is going to try and get ejected,” Gobert told reporters after the game. “Because every time Steph doesn’t play, he doesn’t want to play — it’s his guy Steph. He’ll do anything he can to get ejected.”

Steve Kerr defended Green and Thompson.

“There is no way Klay should have been ejected,” he said. “That’s ridiculous … as far as the Draymond part, Rudy had his hands on Klay’s neck. That’s why Draymond went after Rudy.”

Curry, who has a sore right knee — a vestige of hard contact with the floor late in Sunday’s Warriors loss — does not have structural damage and his stay on the bench is expected to be short. He underwent an MRI on Tuesday.

Thursday will mark the second game Curry has missed due to this injury. The Warriors lost 104-101 on Tuesday to the Timberwolves and are on a four-game losing streak that has dropped them to 6-6.

The absence of Curry, the Warriors’ leading scorer and an early-season MVP candidate, stymies the Dubs’ offense. Yet after Tuesday’s game, the Warriors have a better net rating (points per 100 possessions) without Curry on the floor this season, thanks to strong defensive play.

Last season, the Warriors had a net rating of minus-2.34 points per 100 possessions without Curry on the floor. The Warriors were plus-5.74 with him playing.

Over the last three seasons, the Warriors’ net rating with Curry on the floor is plus-7.22. Without him, Golden State is minus-0.89, and their record in games without him is 21-23.

Without Curry on Tuesday, the Warriors’ leading scorer was rookie Brandin Podziemski, who had 23 points — the most of any non-Curry Warrior this season.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr promised after Tuesday’s game that Podziemski, the Warriors’ first-round pick in the most recent NBA Draft, would become a regular rotation player.

Another game without Curry will ensure that Kerr will not struggle to find the rookie minutes.

Curry might not be the only Warriors star to miss the game, as Draymond Green is likely to face a suspension after placing Wolves center Rudy Gobert in a chokehold during an altercation Tuesday night.

The fight unfolded two minutes after tipoff, before either team scored, when Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels got into a skirmish after a handsy box out by the Warriors veteran. McDaniels ripped Thompson’s jersey as they pushed and pulled each other as they made their way down the court. When both teams entered the fray to pull the two apart, Green caught Gobert pulling Thompson away from the scuffle by the neck and within a second he grabbed Gobert in a headlock to pull him away.

Green didn’t let go of Gobert for nine seconds, was issued a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected along with Thompson and McDaniels. Officials deemed Gobert acted as a “peacemaker” and didn’t punish him. A suspension for Green is likely in order as the NBA is reportedly reviewing the incident and interviewing players involved, according to ESPN.

“It’s kind of funny because before the game, I was telling myself that Steph (Curry) is not playing, so I know Draymond is going to try and get ejected,” Gobert told reporters after the game. “Because every time Steph doesn’t play, he doesn’t want to play — it’s his guy Steph. He’ll do anything he can to get ejected.”

Steve Kerr defended both Green and Thompson.

“There is no way Klay should have been ejected,” the coach said. “That’s ridiculous … as far as the Draymond part, Rudy had his hands on Klay’s neck. That’s why Draymond went after Rudy.”

Whatever decision is made for Green will likely come before the Warriors’ game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. History isn’t on Green’s side when it comes to the NBA.

The league established something of a “Draymond Rule” after a run-in with Domantas Sabonis in the first round of the playoffs last season. In transition after a Kings’ miss, Green appeared to stomp on Sabonis’ chest, though replay showed Sabonis was grabbing Green’s leg to prevent him from moving. Sabonis remained in the game while Green was ejected and further suspended for a critical Game 3 with the Warriors down 2-0.

Back then, NBA executive vice president Joe Dumars said in a statement Green was punished further because he was a “repeat offender.” Green now has 19 career ejections and four suspensions.

Green also has a contentious history with Gobert. Mostly, the one-time Defensive Player of the Year Green doesn’t appreciate being compared to three-time DPOY Gobert as he sees their defensive impacts as nothing alike. Green called that out during the 2022 All-Star Game on TNT, when he made an appearance and took issue with the analysts’ comparison of the two.

“You keep mentioning me in the same sentence with him. We’re not alike,” Green said. “We ain’t nothing alike.”

In 2019, Green mocked Gobert for crying over a missed All-Star selection.

“I guess I should cry too,” Green said in a tweet. “No Charlotte???”

Beef aside, Green’s likely absence comes at an inopportune time for the Warriors as they try to navigate out of a four-game losing streak with Curry day-to-day while nursing a sore knee. Green,, who missed all of training camp with a sprained ankle, is still rounding into full playing shape.

Because the star of the show is going to be spending some time away from his regular job.

Green’s chokehold of Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in the Warriors’ loss Tuesday night was, as Green so often says on the show, “absolutely incredible.” His textbook form and his dragging of the 7-foot-1 center down the court would make a UFC grappler envious.

That chokehold is also well beyond the scope of the sport of basketball, so the NBA suspended Green for five games on Wednesday. Green will now miss matchups with the Thunder, Rockets, Suns, and Spurs. He can return to the Warriors’ lineup on Nov. 28, pending an appeal.

It’s impossible for you, me, or NBA commissioner Adam Silver to be objective regarding Green. Not after 12 seasons in the league. Not after that many direct shots to opponents’ groins.

Green’s reputation as someone who crosses the line doesn’t just proceed him; it flies in a day ahead of him. To list all of his transgressions against fair play would make this column read like an Excel spreadsheet.

Suffice it to say Green doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt on subjective matters like this.

Green might be receiving unfair treatment by the league for being banned for five games. He might be getting off easy with only five games.

It’s all arbitrary, especially when it comes to Green. And no one will be happy with the number.

USA Today called for a seven-game ban. ESPN’s Jay Williams thought it should be 10. Twitter was ripe with bloodthirst — no amount of games was too many for those jackals.

Here’s what I know about the situation: there was a fight on the court, and while Green didn’t start it, he did end it.

What else do you expect from an enforcer?

Gobert had his hands around Thompson’s shoulders and neck. In the eyes of the game officials, this was considered “peacemaking.” Green protected his teammate by pulling Gobert away.

After all, American policy is to provide peace through strength.

Was Green supposed to ask nicely? Should he have tapped Gobert on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, would you please unhand my teammate?”

All the discussion about Green knowing “exactly what he was doing” is only correct in the sense that Green knew how to remove Gobert from Thompson.

Any suggestion beyond that is over-the-top psychoanalysis — a byproduct of time to think about something nobody on the court had time to consider.

Nothing was more preposterous than Gobert’s postgame comment.

“Before the game, I was telling myself that Steph (Curry) is not playing, so I know Draymond is going to try and get ejected,” Gobert said. “Because every time Steph doesn’t play, he doesn’t want to play – it’s his guy Steph. He’ll do anything he can to get ejected… Clown behavior.”

What about Tuesday’s situation struck you as premeditated?

We’ve all seen Green get himself tossed from games before. He knows all the right words to say to a referee.

But Green usually waits until there’s no reason for him to be in the game to get tossed. The man’s basketball genius is also beyond question. No thinking was involved Tuesday night — what happened was visceral.

It was a fight-or-flight moment.

Green chose to fight.

Of course he did.

Would you have preferred him to stand around and let Thompson fend for himself, as Towns did for his teammate, Gobert?

Ducking a skirmish is not in Green’s DNA.

It’s OK to have it out for Green. He has made a lot of enemies in his day. His antics are, on the whole, indefensible. Last season alone, he punched a teammate and also was suspended for a critical playoff game for stomping on an opponent.

No one is arguing that Green is “misunderstood” here.

But his role on the Warriors is undisputed. Green brings force to the Dubs. He protects the guys whose shots rip the net. (So long as they are not Jordan Poole.)

There used to be so many players like him across sports — the guys you hated to play but wanted on your team.

Gobert can tell himself whatever he wants after being rag-dolled by someone half a foot shorter than him. Rudy claimed he was the “bigger man” after the game, but he sure didn’t look it in the moment.

In fairness, Green did seem to sincerely enjoy putting Gobert in a headlock. Perhaps that’s where the objection lies.

But if Green’s actions qualified as gross misconduct — an assault on society and the sport — coach Steve Kerr or his Warriors teammates would have said so. They’ve made that claim many times before.

I’m yet to hear any objection.

But even if Green’s actions were justifiable to his teammates, they’re suspension-worthy to the league.

The NBA spun the wheel of justice and came up with an arbitrary number of games for Green to sit out. The suspension would have been a game or two for another player. I’ve seen players get away suspension-free after similar chokeholds.. But Green isn’t any other player. There’s not much point in him appealing the ban.

And while I’m sure it will be frustrating for the Warriors to be without their best defender, there might also be some positives to Green being restricted to the podcast studio — we won’t have to watch the Warriors play a two-non-shooter lineup with Green and Looney for a while. (That combination is a minus-1 in net rating in 130 minutes this season.)

We’ll wait and see – a luxury Green didn’t have Tuesday night when one of his teammates was outnumbered in a fight.

But no frustration could be read on coach Steve Kerr’s face after the game, just satisfaction.

“It was just an amazing performance by our guys, to be so shorthanded and to fight and compete the way they did,” Kerr said. “It was just beautiful to watch.”

The moral victory in this loss: The Warriors found ways to score without Curry on the court. And rookie Brandin Podziemski may have taken the lead, for now, as a much-needed source for buckets. He became the first non-Curry Warrior to score more than 20 points this season — 23 points while shooting 3-for-8 from 3, with seven rebounds and five assists against the NBA’s No. 1 defense in a career-high 39 minutes. He even had a banked, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to close out the third quarter.

That seems to be enough to earn him a full-time job.

“He’s gonna play,” Kerr said. “He’s going to play every night.

“In order to win in the NBA, obviously you have to have talent, but you have to have energy. You have to bring something to the table life-wise, joy-wise, energy-wise, competitiveness-wise. And that’s what I watched tonight from the whole group.

“Clearly, Brandin has that. That’s pretty obvious. And our fans have watched this team win four championships. They weren’t won by a bunch of pouters and wallflowers. They were won by gamers, competitors, guys who brought energy and joy and passion to everything. And that’s what it takes. So that’s what I’m looking for.”

The Warriors’ lack of a second scorer has been a consistent issue through the 6-2 start and the four-game skid alike. With Andrew Wiggins missing bunny layups and shooting 15% from 3, Thompson taking fewer shot attempts and Chris Paul still looking for his mid-range shot as he adjusts to life on and off the bench, all six wins mostly came down to Curry’s heroics.

Curry flurries separate the Warriors from the rest, but a smaller, older team built to outsmart opponents and space the floor has to make shots to keep defenses honest. Otherwise, they get congested on offense and “drive into the paint with no plan” as Green put it, after their first loss to the Timberwolves.

Jordan Poole may be remembered around Warriors world for his late-game turnovers or ill-timed heat checks, but at his best over his final two seasons he averaged 19.5 points per game shooting 35% from 3 on 7.7 attempts per game. The Warriors need someone to fill that void.

Podziemski did something of a Poole impression on Tuesday, challenging the Timberwolves’ length. He hit floaters, took a few 3-pointers and drove to the rim for a few and-1 makes around or over the outstretched arms of their 7-foot duo of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. It was a stunner given how Podziemski had approached his five previous stints as more of a passer and high-flying rebounder.

“That’s what the game called for,” Podziemski said. “With the guys being out there, me and Chris (Paul) were the main scorers out there. That is what the game called for. Some games I will get one shot and some games I will get 18 like I did tonight.

“I talked to 30 (Curry) about it and he said every shot I took tonight was a great shot. That is what the game called for and we go from there.”

Podziemski got the verbal seal of approval from Kerr, but it’s unclear where his minutes will be carved out. He’s the team’s backup point guard playing behind two future Hall of Famers in Paul and Curry, which means he may need to play out of position, like he did on Tuesday alongside Paul. Still, the backcourt minutes are mostly occupied with Thompson and Moses Moody in the fold. Moody’s minutes have dwindled since the season’s start — he was a minus-12 in 14 minutes on Tuesday.

But desperate times call for some gutsy decisions. And in the wake of last year’s disappointing run — no matter how much Kerr wants to erase the past — there’s clear urgency to act on the hot hand and honor what wins.

“We talk about it all the time, we don’t have some regular rookies,” Paul said. “We got some guys who pay attention, know what they’re doing. To be on a team like this, this early in the season playing valuable minutes in big games, it’s only going to be good in the long haul.

“Sometimes you only learn by experience. The best thing about being a rookie is you don’t know anything different. You just play hard. And whatever happens, happens. And we need that with this team.”

And aside from a second All-Star, that’s what these Warriors need as much as anything.

Brandin Podziemski played like an All-Star on Tuesday. With Steph Curry sidelined, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson ejected before points were on the board, and Andrew Wiggins and Chris Paul still playing like their best basketball is behind them, the Warriors’ hopes of beating the Timberwolves were tied to Podziemski, Dario Šarić, and Moses Moody.

Do you smell that? It’s the stink of the 2019-2020 season.

Luckily, it was only for one night.

And all three players deserve major kudos for their performances, even in a loss.

Podziemski, in particular, deserves a look every night for the Warriors. Not only was he aggressive and scored, but he also helped push the pace (a necessity for the Dubs against all teams, but especially against big squads) and showed an excellent feel for the game.

The Warriors need all of those things amid a four-game losing streak.

And while 23 points a night — like he scored Tuesday — is far too much to ask Podziemski, it’s not ridiculous to think he can chip in five if he plays 10 minutes or so a game.

But the bottom line is this: You don’t carve up the NBA’s best defense, score 23 points, and play plus defense yourself and return to sitting at the end of the bench, do you?

Find this kid a role.

The Clank Bros.

If Andrew Wiggins was going to break out of his funk and prove, again, that he can carry an offensive load for a Warriors team that desperately needs a No. 2 behind Steph Curry, Tuesday’s game was the perfect opportunity.

Given his performance, it might be foolhardy to think Wiggins is merely in a slump.

Wiggins went 4-for-15 from the floor against Minnesota, going 1-for-7 from behind the 3-point line, shooting zero free throws, tallying zero assists, and turning the ball over four times.

That is abysmal offense.

And while Wiggins played plus defense on Tuesday, the Warriors need him to be a two-way player capable of making an All-Star team.

His offense isn’t just poor; it’s benchable. The player we saw in the 2022 playoffs seems so far away.

Also far away is Chris Paul’s offensive confidence.

Paul passed up at least half a dozen open shots in a game where he needed to take them.

Some of that is Rudy Gobert looming in the paint — if I were 6-foot, I would think twice about challenging him — but most of it must be tied to Paul’s shooting struggles this year and his unselfish style of play.

But, again, if there was ever a night for Paul to be selfish, it was Tuesday.

Wiggins and Paul are providing positives for the Warriors. Wiggins’ defense is strong and Paul’s intelligence, play-making and ball control are much-needed for a Warriors team that has lacked those things with Curry sidelined in the past.

But with every poor shooting performance from the Clank Bros, it becomes more difficult to believe that regression to the mean is coming. Yes, the Timberwolves play good defense, but going 10-for-29 from the field in a game like that is unforgivable.

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble

Some quick thoughts on the ridiculous 0-0 fracas.

[Some expanded thoughts on the ridiculous 0-0 fracas.]

Absolute chaos between the Wolves and Warriors started by Klay and Jaden pic.twitter.com/QHjpuijvuc

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) November 15, 2023

• The referees and league overdid things by kicking out Thompson and Jaden McDaniels. That’s a double-tech every day of the week.

• It’s hard to argue that Draymond shouldn’t have been kicked out. Yes, he was defending a teammate, but he put Gobert in a headlock that would make Stone Cold Steve Austin proud and dragged the 7-footer away from the fray. Intent doesn’t matter — he was over the top and will probably be suspended.

• The fact that Gobert was given the benefit of the doubt regarding intent is preposterous. The pool report following the game claimed that Gobert was a “peacemaker.”

There’s no such thing if you’re wearing a jersey.

If you’re tossing folks, toss ’em all. The inconstancy is annoying.

• Green really wanted to put Gobert in a headlock, didn’t he? He saw a scuffle breaking out and made a beeline for the Timberwolves’ center. This man knows his business.

Golden State lost its fourth straight game 104-101 on Tuesday night where rookie Brandin Podziemski made his best case for more minutes going forward. He put up 23 points to become the first Warrior not named Curry to score more than 20 points in a game this season. Dario Saric became the second, scoring 21 points — including a go-ahead 3-pointer in the game’s waning seconds to put Golden State up one.

But the Timberwolves had just a little more juice. Karl-Anthony Towns hit a 3 to give Minnesota a lead and Mike Conley hit the dagger 3 to end it. The Warriors move to 6-6 on the season and 1-4 at home and have lost four straight.

The Warriors continue this homestand with two games against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday and Saturday and close it out with a game against the rising Houston Rockets on Monday. The Warriors take a pre-Thanksgiving trip to Phoenix to play the Suns before returning home for another extended homestand.

Thompson and McDaniels got into a shoving match two minutes after tip-off when Thompson put a hand on McDaniels on a Minnesota miss and McDaniels fired back by pulling on Thompson’s jersey, ripping it.

“There’s no way Klay Thompson should have been thrown out of the game,” coach Steve Kerr said after Golden State’s 104-101 loss. “He’s running up the floor and the guy grabs his jersey and he’s pulling on him and he’s pulling back. There’s no way Klay should have been ejected, that’s ridiculous.”

Both teams came into separate the two. That’s when Green entered the fray and grabbed Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert and put him in a headlock, pulling him away from the scrum. Green was issued a Flagrant 2 foul and Thompson and McDaniels were issued technical fouls, all were ejected.

“If you watch the replay, Rudy had his hands on Klay’s neck and that’s why Draymond went after Rudy,” Kerr said.

In a pool report, officials said Gobert was not punished because he was acting as a “peacemaker” separating Thompson and McDaniels and that Green was aggressive.

“He aggressively put Gobert in a headlock and refuses to let go,” Crew Chief Tyler Ford said. “This is unnecessary and excessive conduct which meets the standard for a flagrant foul penalty 2.”

Green and Thompson weren’t available after the game for comment, but Gobert ripped into Green after the game.

“It’s kind of funny because before the game, I was telling myself that Steph is not playing, so I know Draymond is going to try and get ejected,” Gobert told reporters. “Because every time Steph doesn’t play, he doesn’t want to play — it’s his guy Steph. He’ll do anything he can to get ejected.”

This is Green’s second ejection of the year, his first coming in the Warriors’ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at home on double technical fouls.

Already without Steph Curry due to a knee injury, the Warriors played on without their Big 3. Tuesday’s game is the Warriors’ second in-season tournament game and first on their home court.

The Warriors and Timberwolves got chippy just two minutes into their in-season tournament game

Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels were all ejected. pic.twitter.com/m7UvULewa2

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 15, 2023

Curry underwent an MRI to determine the extent of his injury and how long he might be out, head coach Steve Kerr said before the game on Tuesday. Curry took a hard fall during the Warriors’ 116-110 loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday night, but played until the starters were removed with just over a minute left. This will be Curry’s first missed game of the year.

Golden State could see Curry’s absence as an opportunity to get some of their other scorers going. The 35–year-old star guard is leading the Warriors with 30.7 points per game and shooting 44.6% from 3. No other Warrior has scored more than 20 points in any single game so far this season.

The hope is Andrew Wiggins can use the opportunity to break out of a troubling slump in which he’s averaging 10.5 points per game shooting 15.4% from 3, all a far cry from his career-average 19 points per game shooting 38.9% from 3.

“He’s shot the ball really well for us, so that’s a big sample size when we’re talking about multiple years,” Kerr said. “This year has just started out really slowly. It happens to everybody, but when it happens at the beginning of the season it’s just so much more exposed. Everybody is talking about it.”

Curry’s absence will give the Warriors an opportunity to explore some different lineups to find some offensive spark. That will perhaps get rookie Brandin Podziemski more minutes; the rookie scored eight points in one minute of garbage time in the Warriors’ loss on Sunday. He’s showed a knack for passing and rebounding, but can have the space to find his 3-point stroke in the coming games.

“I’ve been encouraging him since camp (to shoot the 3),” Kerr said. “We were not worried about him becoming a good 3-point shooter. He already has shown it in college and practices so it’s more the mentality, and Brandin is a guy who’s first instinct is to attack the paint.”

Curry had 38 points in the loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday in the first half of this two-game series. Minnesota’s No. 1-ranked defense had the Warriors flailing offensively as anyone not named Curry was unable to get going from 3 or penetrate the paint against bigs Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns.

The Warriors are 6-5 with a 1-3 record at home so far this season. They are also 1-0 in group play of the in-season tournament, tied with the Wolves and Kings atop West Group C. The Oklahoma City Thunder will come to town for two games after Minnesota leaves to finish out Golden State’s six-game homestand.

But right now, the Warriors’ Batman, Stephen Curry, is surrounded by a team of Alfreds.

This is not a winning formula for the Warriors for the remainder of the season.

Golden State is on a three-game losing streak, and with all three losses coming to teams with elite big men, there has been plenty of consternation in the fan base over the Warriors’ size.

But the Warriors’ biggest issue so far this season is players — and if we want to be serious, one in particular — not playing up to the size of their role.

While the Warriors might be deep, the lack of a clear No. 2 has left Curry to singlehandedly carry the burden of winning every game.

The two-time MVP still plays at a superhuman level, but he can only do so much. I shudder to think of what happens to the Warriors if he’s not around.

One stat encapsulates how isolated Curry is this season: He’s the only Warrior to score more than 20 points in a game.

It leaves the Warriors with a strict formula to victory that gives them a chance to win every night but leaves little margin for error.

First, Curry needs to score 30-plus points per game. (The Warriors are really taking this man’s greatness for granted.)

The second part is that the Warriors must play top-level defense, holding their opponent under 110 points.

And finally, the Warriors need to score somewhere in the range of 75 points with quality team basketball — transition buckets and back-cuts off of set plays.

You can guess where the breakdown most often happens.

Placing the secondary scoring burden on the collective leaves too many points of failure.

What Curry needs is someone else in the muck with him late in games — someone who could, on a big night, be the team’s leading scorer.

Chris Paul is past that point in his career. He’s brought many positives to the Dubs, but he did not bring a time machine to San Francisco.

Upstart Jonathan Kuminga is not ready for that job yet. He might never reach that level.

Klay Thompson once held that No. 2 role. Sadly, he doesn’t appear to be capable of that anymore following two catastrophic leg injuries. Thompson’s smaller reserve of athleticism is also strained by his new defensive responsibilities, which require him to take on opposing big men. (A role he has played well.)

But all that’s OK — the Warriors believed they prepared for Thompson’s demise.

After all, Andrew Wiggins was the second-best player on a title team.

And after a strange 2022-23, the Warriors expected Wiggins to put that behind him and return to that same level of play this season.

Instead, things remain bizarre.

After 11 games, where does Wiggins fall on the hierarchy of positive impact for the 2023-24 Warriors?

He’s certainly not second.

Is he even top-five?

Wiggins has played every game for the Warriors this season, but you’ll be forgiven if you haven’t noticed him. The wing averages 10.5 points per game, shoots 41 percent from the field, and has made four 3-pointers all season.

That’s half of what the Warriors need from him. Wiggins is the team’s fourth-leading scorer.

There are several excuses I’ve heard for Wiggins’ underwhelming offensive play.

Blame has been placed on his rib injury, picked up in Game 5 of the Warriors’ second-round series with the Lakers last season. Wiggins had a left costal cartilage fracture, and while he played in Game 6 of that series, he was a shell of himself.

Cartilage fractures can take up to a year to heal — that stuff is finicky. It wouldn’t shock me if his ribs were still bothering him.

At the same time, Wiggins and the Warriors haven’t blamed — or even acknowledged — that injury this season, so can we pin his struggles on it?

The other excuse I’ve heard is that it’s simply bad luck — that he’ll come around soon enough.

I get that argument. The season is still young.

And if it was a player other than Wiggins, that might hold more weight.

Wiggins’ nickname might as well be “The Enigma.”

This player’s talent — save for a few weeks in the fall and spring of 2022 — has consistently exceeded his performance. His love of the game has been questioned by former teammates, coaches, and scouts alike, with plenty going on the record about it.

And remember, Wiggins is the player who left the Warriors for two months at the end of last season for circumstances that remain not fully explained and have been deemed verboten by the team months later.

He’s a player who cashed in his elite performance in the 2022 playoffs with a contract that paid a little more than half of his market value. There are hometown discounts, and then there are strange contracts. Wiggins’ deal fell dangerously close to the second category.

It’s all just a bit too peculiar to write off his struggles as solely lousy luck.

Wiggins is not only clanking shots all over the floor, he’s shooting less frequently this season, shooting four field-goal attempts fewer per game. His four games of fewer than 10 points scored are already more than he had in each of the last two seasons.

No matter what the reason behind Wiggins’ slow start is — if there’s a reason — the need is the same: He needs to snap out of it fast.

No one else on this Warriors can or will consistently rise to the role of No. 2. It’s Wiggins or bust for the Dubs.

This season’s Warriors aren’t going to be juggernauts, but they can replicate the model that won them the title less than a year and a half ago. A big part of that team’s success was a solid start to the season.

I think they can exceed that team’s level of play. This team is more talented.

But all that roster depth doesn’t matter much if it’s just Curry and a stable of role players.

But the 2021-22 Warriors had three All-Stars: Curry, Draymond Green (on the back of his defensive prowess), and Wiggins.

This season, just like last, they’re back down to one.

We saw how well that worked last spring.

Improved team talent can compensate for missing that third All-Star — it can’t do the same for missing two.

And without that No. 2, the Warriors will be a second-tier team, at best.