OKC Thunder: Aaron Wiggins impressive start to his career

While the media has been fawning over OKC Thunder rookie of the year candidate Josh Giddey, OKC has another valuable rookie finding playing time in the 2-way wing Aaron Wiggins. There is also Jeremiah Robinson-Earl too who is having a great rookie season, but we will get to him another time. For now, let’s talk Wiggins.

Before the season started, we sensed OKC may have found a diamond in the rough with the 6’6 wing. Wiggins left Maryland college with modest stats along with a promising athletic profile and an inside-out playstyle, an archetypal homerun for the modern NBA. Despite this, he fell to 55th in this season’s draft and played 6 games for the OKC Blue.

But like many young players this season, the turbulence of COVID has afforded Wiggins more opportunities to show his ability on the NBA floor. Consistency is important in this league and with his 8 starts for the Thunder since December, Wiggins has averaged 12 points on 56% from the field and 36% from three, staying consistent enough with his figures from college and the G-league to show his scoring is real.

OKC Thunder wing Aaron Wiggins is off to an impressive start in his NBA career

The Thunder’s offense falls flat when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is off the floor and the recent play of Wiggins has been a welcome outlet. He is another player who can create their shot with a mixture of drives to the basket as well as consistently knocking down shots from deep. Wiggins uses his agile footwork to slide his way into the paint from the wings and that 6’10 wingspan allows him to avoid defenders when going for layups. He even caught a vicious poster against Cam Johnson in the Thunder’s loss to the Suns last week.

It hasn’t just been his offense that has been a welcome relief, Aaron Wiggins has been a major contributor to OKC’s sturdy defense.

His long wingspan bothers opposing wings and helps contest along the perimeter. He can stay in front of his man well and his positioning for a rookie has been stellar too, considering most rookies are negative on the defensive end when they enter the league.

Comparing the overall season’s defensive rating and the last 10 games where Wiggins has moved into a starting role, the team’s defense has gone from a respectable 13th in the league to a stifling 2nd, behind only the Phoenix Suns. This is not due to softer opponents, there are matchups against the Grizzlies, Mavericks, and two against the Suns in that span.

With the trade deadline looming, it will be interesting to see how OKC manages Aaron Wiggins’ two-way contract. He shows enough promise to be rewarded with more NBA minutes. I suspect we will be seeing much more from Wiggins this season and in the future.