Coach Mark Daigneault may be a fan of rotational optionality and lineup fluidity, but, following Sunday's Game 2 win for the OKC Thunder, it's more obvious than ever that one specific adjustment must be made for good.
Simply put, Aaron Wiggins needs more playing time in the 2025 NBA Finals.
Despite the fact that he's coming off a career-best regular season where he served as Oklahoma City's second-unit spark plug and boasted averages of 12.0 points on 48.8 percent shooting from the floor and 38.3 percent shooting from deep, the wing's usage has fallen off a cliff during this year's playoff run.
Leading into the championship round, Wiggins saw his average time spent on the floor drop by nearly 10 whole minutes, and saw as few as nine minutes played during their series-opening loss against Indiana.
Fortunately, this inconsistent play never wound up having a negative effect on his mentality, nor hindered his ability to perform once his number was finally called upon, as made evident in Game 2.
Aaron Wiggins has been under-the-radar playoff contributor for Thunder
Tasked with logging a whopping 20 minutes in the Thunder's 123-107 series-tying win against the Pacers, Wiggins found himself tapping into his regular-season style of play by dropping 18 points on 54.5 percent shooting from the field and 62.5 percent shooting from deep.
Now, while many may have viewed his Sunday night showing as the moment where Wiggins had finally arrived this postseason, truth be told, the man has actually been here the entire time -- coach Daigneault just hasn't yet given him the amount of minutes necessary for onlookers to realize it.
While he may only be averaging 13.7 minutes over 17 games played, the advanced metrics clearly show the 26-year-old has still provided high-impact contributions when out on the hardwood.
With Wiggins in the lineup, the Thunder are posting a ridiculous +20.2 point differential (98 percentile) and 126.5 points per 100 possessions (97 percentile) while their opponents register in with a ridiculous 18.7 turnover percentage (95 percentile).
It's well documented that the Pacers have struggled against opposing teams' second-unit scoring punches, as they let up the 17-most points per game to rival benches during the regular season (43.2) and, throughout this postseason, rank third-worst in such a category (40.0).
Considering this, with his recent outburst coupled with his under-the-radar, high-end production along the way, it may be hard to now relegate the fourth-year baller back to a non-factor, seat filler role on the pine.
Indiana is clearly susceptible to tertiary offensive weapons, and Aaron Wiggins's crafty three-level scoring abilities must be more regularly utilized moving forward in this year's title round.