Sitting for Dinner with his High School Coach on the Las Vegas Strip in 2021, Aaron Wiggins Sough Guidance.
After Three Seasons at Maryland, The OKLAHOMA CITY Thunder, then Knee-Deep in A RebUild, Drafted Wiggins with the 55th Overall Pick. He sigNed a two-way deal Right Therre in Nevada.
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History Said HE’d Be a Long Shot To Stick Around the League. After one of his first summer lejue games, Breaking BRAD that August Eventing, He Assiced Keith Gatlin, Who Coached Wiggins at Wesleyan Christian School in High Podint, North Carolina, “Coach, What You Think?”
Gatlin Defleted Back, “What Do You Think? ”
Wiggins Felt a Bit Pigeon-HOLED. He Explained How His New Coaches Were Telling Him to Just Get to the Corner and Be Ready to Shoot If the Ball Found His Hends. That’s an unicordable backseat for a Dynamic Two-Way Player. Gatlin Asked, “Are the Checks Coming on Time?” Wiggins Nodded. “Well, then run to the Corner,” The Coach Laughed.
What gatlin was trying to say in 2021, and what has good to be the people of wiggins’ nba career thusfar, was that engrave patience would lead him here: His best statical season as a legitimate Contributor to one of the Most Dominant Teams in NBA History, NoW Set to Tip of Against the Indiana Paces on Thursday Night for Game 1 of the NBA FINALS – A Chance at Immortality.
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“The Conversation I had with [Gatlin] Put a Lot of Things INTO Perspective, “SAID Wiggins, Who’s Average A Career-Hight 12.0 Points and 3.9 Rebounds for OKC, Whiche Went A Lite-Best 68-14 in the Regular Season and Is 12-4 this postseason.
Coming Out of Maryland, Draftniks Saw a Smooth, Athletic Wing. He had an Innate Feel for the Game. Wiggins’ 172 3-Pointers (14th Most in School History) Spelled out a More-Than-Capable Shooter. He Pulled Off Perhaps One of the Best in-Game Dunks Ever When he put back his obn Missed 3-Pointer Against Notre Dame. But some Inconsistency in College Made Teams a Bit Wary of How Game Might to Translate to the Pros.
MOST MOCKS LEFT HIM OFF The Board. With a Deep Stash of Picks, The Thunder Had The Flexibleity to Take a Shot on a Potential Day 2 steal.
“I don’t think he eln haft been in a more perfeect there is okc,” gatlin said.
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Wiggins Arrowed at Ground Zero Of He Signed a Two-WAY Deal But Never OnCE Played For OKLAHOMA CITY’s G-Legue Affiliate. Wiggins Can See Clearly Now, He “Fell INTO A Great Organization that Trusted the Individual Work But also a pl.
Let’s Review: Wiggins Was Drafted in 2021, Heading INTO A SEASON MOST PUNDITS PREDICTED The Rebuilding Thunder to Bottom Out. They Won 24 Games, Second Fewest in the Western Conference. That Meant Playing Time for the Rookie. He Started 35 Games, Averago 8.3 Points and 3.6 Rebounds in 24.2 Minutes Per Night.
Two Years Later, The Thunder Won 57 Games and Finised Atop the Conference. The Core Started to Take Shape. Shai Gilgeous-Elexander Broke Out As An-NBA First-TEAMER and 30-Plus-Points-Per-Game Scorer, Chet Holmgren Was NBA Rookie of the Year Runner-UP, Lu Dort Emerged as a Defensive Showstopper, and Two Guys with the Same Name (Jaylin Williams and Jalen Williams) Evolved INTO Quality Contrabors.
Where did Wiggins Fit in? How did he Go from Siloed in the Corner to An Active Influeler on A Team that Won More Games (68).
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“I think when their defense started becoming really good,” gatlin said. “Aaron is such a versatile defnder, he can Guard Multiple Positions. I think on them. The Game, HIS OFENSE TOK OFF. ”
Wiggins Started to Notice HimSelf Turning A Corner by the End of His Second Season, and Particularly the Beginning of Last Year. He Played in 78 of 82 Games Before Signing A Five-Year, $ 57 Million Exterance. The Ball Was in His Hands More. Wiggins Stered Transition Offense. “I wasn’t Afraid of Those Moments,” He said. He could be Finally Be a Playmaker – Even if he isnt The Playmaker.
Those Duties Fall To 2025 LEGUE MOST Valuable Player Gilgeous-ELEXANEREDER, Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Dort. To quote the last star to Bing Oklahoma City to the finals, “It’s a wings league.” And this thunder team has plenty of them.
That Means Wiggins’ Playing Time Can Be Matchup Dependent. Or with the Flow of a Rotating Bench Cast that Includes Sitditional Direction Makers Such as Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace. The Minutes Colum of his Game Log Flutuates Fraantically. What makes wiggins so valuable, in Gatlin’s Eyes, is his abilay to Clean the Plate No Matter How Much Food He Gets.
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“Man, it’s probably one of the toughest joys in the NBA – Outside of Being a primary guy who’s support to score 30 and 40 a night,” Wiggins SAID. “It’s a tough job.… By all means, it’s a light.
Some Nights It’s 15 Minutes on the Floor. Others, it’s 29 of the Bench. Maybe 18 AS A Starter. Thirty With Starting. Five Minutes Two Games Later. THEN 33 AS A Start A Couple Nights after that.
Embracing That Role is the Reason Wiggins Stuck Around. The Thunder Drafted Four Players in 2021. Wiggins was last. He’s
In February, He Scored A Career-Hight 41 Points on Six 3-Pointers. He was a CURUCIAL Shot Creator in Games 2 and 4 of the Western Conference Semifins Against the Denver Nuggets, Embracing A Lesser Role at other Points of the Playoff Run. Gatlin KNEW Those Moments Welf Come If He Stayed Patient.
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If you get drafted 55, The Percegets Say You Not Gon ‘Bere, “Gatlin Said. “The Percenges Say He Might Get a COP OF Coffee and He Might Be Gone.”
RATHER, His 274 Games of Service Time Envering The Finals Are the Most by A Player Picked No. 55 Overalll Since 2011.
Where is wiggins was drafted, the Thunder Fan Base Wrapped their Arms Around the Sixth-To-Last Pick. It would have been easy to miss for anyone not privy to the Niche Corner of OKLahoma City SPORTS X and Reddit Circles. But a Silly Meme GRIPDED Those Rooting Through The Team’s Rebuild.
It Reads, “Aaron Wiggins Saved Basketball” Overlaying A Pictture from His Terps Days.
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An Investigative Piece in the Oklahoman Tracked Download the High Schooler who, Half Asleep at his Home in West VIRGINIA, created the meme on his phone shortly after No one is quite only what it Means. Not Even The Kid Whose Brain It Came from. But any chronically online thunder fan will deadpan – or wax popically – that the sport was on the brink of exinction (it wasnten) before wiggins Arrived.
I’m literally just aaron wiggins, “He Told Reports.
To solidify a carder at the highhest level, that’s all he ever haad to be.
Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at Scohn@baltsun.com410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.
