In the NBA, an X-factor is often considered a non-star player from a technical sense who still has an undeniably positive impact on their respective team. In 2024-25, Aaron Wiggins is proving to be exactly that for the OKC Thunder, and Sunday's outing against the LA Clippers only further strengthened such a sentiment.
Playing on the road and against a team like the LA Clippers, who were on a five-game win streak heading into the night, is a daunting challenge for any ball club.
However, add on the fact that they'd be missing two of their three main scoring weapons in Jalen Williams (hip) and Chet Holmgren (hip), and Oklahoma City headed into their bout at more than just a visitor's disadvantage.
Throughout the year, it's become evident that the Thunder have become unhealthily dependent on superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's offensive punch. While they may boast an elite 121.9 offensive rating and drop 123.4 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, the ball club plummets to a putrid 110.1 rating and 113.5 points per 100 possessions without his services.
Because of this, naturally, the belief was OKC would sorely struggle to generate points with both Dub and Chet inactive.
However, fortunately for them, they had Wiggins to pick up the slack.
Aaron Wiggins cementing status as offensive X-factor for OKC Thunder
During a game where Gilgeous-Alexander saw one of the least efficient scoring performances of his career (26 points on 24.1 percent shooting from the field), the fourth-year pro's services proved to be game-changing.
From his impressive isolation abilities to his crucial Clippers momentum-halting stretches during the highly competitive second half, Wiggins' contributions were vital in the Thunder not only clawing their way back from an early double-digit first-quarter deficit but securing their 103-101 win over LA, as he finished with 19 points on 47.1 percent shooting from the floor while coming off the bench.
Since the calendar page turned to January, the 26-year-old has seemingly flipped a switch with his on-court impact, both from a production and advanced metrics standpoint.
Over a 38-game stretch, the wing finds himself posting tremendous averages of 14.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists on 51.5 percent shooting from the field and 39.6 percent shooting from deep while predominantly coming off the pine.
On top of this, he has also registered in with the second-best total plus/minus (+321) and offensive rating (125.2) on the team, while ranking fourth in net rating (15.9).
A few games back, Gilgeous-Alexander noted that he feels this Thunder team has "a bunch of guys that are All-Stars in their role." While he's frequently reminded fans of his worthiness of receiving such a label, Sunday was the latest example of Aaron Wiggins being one of OKC's brightest star role players.