The minuscule sample size of Golden State’s fifth starting lineup in five games offered nothing explanatory — let alone definitive — especially since Wiggins, who missed most of training camp, was new to the action.

Kerr has been eyeing a possible Curry-Wiggins backcourt for nearly a year, ever since he acknowledged the growing likelihood that Klay Thompson would leave Golden State. Kerr has long viewed Thompson and Wiggins, similarly sized and two-way, as interchangeable wings; this was a chance to explore that idea.

While Wiggins will never be the deadeye shooter that Thompson is, he is now a better ball defender. He has the tools to do a fair to excellent job against most of the league’s playmakers, and that was one of Golden State’s most visible weaknesses last season. General manager Mike Dunleavy addressed this in July by signing De’Anthony Melton, an elite point-of-attack defender. Gary Payton II, who missed most of last season, is another on-ball hellcat.

But Wiggins is leaner and offers more offensive versatility. Since joining the Warriors in February 2020, he is shooting 38.1 percent from beyond the arc. Not Klay, but very solid. In 2021-22, when Wiggins made the Western Conference All-Star team, he shot 39.3 percent from deep. Again, not Klay, but more than acceptable.

One of Kerr’s clear messages to Wiggins is to increase his three-point shot percentage.

“I already told him: six 3-pointers a game,” Kerr told Kerith Burke of NBC Sports Bay Area last week. “He’s a very good three-point shooter. Last year it was slightly less. But since he’s been here: 39, 40 percent. I want a lot of threes, and I want a lot of attacking at the rim. Last year he shot over 80 percent from the foul line in the second half of the year.

“He looks very comfortable in every aspect of the game. And let’s face it, with Klay gone, we need him to step up and be our second goalscorer after Steph, and we know he’s more than capable of doing that.”

If Wiggins shoots another six threes per game, that will free up more space for Kuminga, whose 3-ball looks better but could always be secondary to his ability to attack the rim. Both were in the starting lineup because Kerr’s dream scenario is to play them together – they have two athletic 6-foot-4 wings to challenge opponents on either side.