Oklahoma City – proudly carrying a final hat from the 2025 NBA 2025 slightly turned towards the side and a T -shirt from the NBA final, the Oklahoma City Thunder goalkeeper Aaron Wiggins, sat in front of his locker to reflect on his difficult route to a potential championship ring.
“I sat for a second because I never thought I could compete for a final championship,” said Wiggins in Andcape after the Thunder won a final of the NBA with a 124-94 rout on the Minnesota Timberwolves in match 5 of the final of the West Conference on May 28. “Having advanced and made if alone is a blessing in itself.”
Wiggins was a key reserve for the Thunder on their way to the NBA final this season, with an average of 12 points and 3.9 rebounds on the bench. But in 2021, the simple fact of being a member of the Thunder seemed to be a long for the 6 -foot 5 -inch goalkeeper who was drafted at the end of the second round without guaranteed NBA contract.
“His whole trip here has been a lot of ups and downs,” said Thunder Luguentz Dort goalkeeper.
Wiggins collected an average of 14.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists as a junior for Maryland during the 2020-21 season. Most NBA simulation projects did not have it as a first or even second round choice in 2021. And he did not initially have an invitation to the camp before the NBA draft. But after having performed well in the G League Select camp, he was invited to the NBA pre-radiet camp, where he played impressively. Thus, instead of returning to Maryland for its senior season, the honorable selection of the Honorel 2021 All-Big Ten mention kept its name in the draft.
Wiggins organized a draft evening of the NBA 2021 with his family and friends in a restaurant in his hometown of Greensboro, in North Carolina. He expected to be selected in the 1930s and 40s of the second round. Instead, Wiggins was selected by the Thunder with the 55th choice in total in the second round of the draft at 60 spikes. There was nothing guaranteed for Wiggins, who had to prove his value with Oklahoma City to Summer League. As a rule, the NBA recovery choices selected in the last part of the second round are long blows to make a team.
“We are sitting there watching the project and there were a lot of mixed emotions,” said Wiggins. “The second round started. There was a couple [draft] Place with teams with which I thought I had good training sessions and I expect to be possible and not to be written. Then at the end of the second round, I receive a call from my agent by saying that the Thunder writes me and I want to sign a double meaning [contract].
“I was not necessarily upset. I was happy and grateful to be blessed, but I was not happy either. So, I was just happy to have heard my name and know that I gave myself the opportunity. ”
Zach Beeker / NBAE via Getty Images
Wiggins had the hope of signing a standard NBA contract after the summer league. But after a few games from the summer league, the Thunder kept his word by signing Wiggins to a double -meaning contract. With a two -way contract, he was able to play for the Thunder or with the G League Oklahoma City Blue.
The Wiggins mentality at the time was to make the most of the situation in the hope of winning a guaranteed list place with the Thunder.
“My mentality was in a way to buy what the team had, but also not to limit my level of confidence and perhaps my style of play to a certain extent,” said Wiggins. “In a way, being able to maintain a certain feeling of confidence in the work that I devoted to arrive at this situation. But also, always trying to adapt to the level of the NBA and the team specifically so that I can win minutes on the ground and not simply reject the opportunity I had in front of me.”
Wiggins was actually so impressive for the Thunder that he never played in the Gague G during his recruit season. He collected on average 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds while pulling 32.9% on a 3-point range in the first 55 Thunder games of the 2021-222 season. Having proven his value as a NBA player, the director general of Thunder, Sam Presti, converted the Wiggins contract from two lanes to a standard NBA contract on February 12, 2022. After winning $ 1 million as a recruit, the prolongation paid $ 1.5 million and $ 1.8 million the next two seasons.
“When I got out of the recruit season I had, I thought I had somehow won a certain sense of minutes, a certain feeling of opportunity during this second year,” said Wiggins.
Instead, the second season of Wiggins offered challenges that may have played a role by adapting to its constantly evolving role. In 2022-23, he played 70 regular season games for the Thunder with 14 departures, but he also spent 24 games playing in League G. Again, Wiggins had to win his opportunity because “things were not only entrusted to be favored and carried out, so I had to resist this storm and go through this season.”
Wiggins said that his confidence and his work ethics had helped him overcome this challenge.
“When I had the opportunities to play, I went out and surpasses the expectation of certain minutes I had,” said Wiggins. “And it was just that I continued to put a certain level of work and confidence in confidence behind the scenes when I played, whether it was the last five minutes of a match or after sitting two games in a row or starting the next.”
After a third season of the Solid NBA, the Thunder re-signed it again in the summer of 2024 to a salary leap with a contract of $ 57 million over five years. Wiggins signed the contract at home during training in Washington, DC, with his parents and his brother nearby.
“I was super happy and excited because I was supposed to be when I left university, if you had told me that three years later, I would sign a four or five -year contract, it was just a lot to bring both,” said Wiggins.
Joe Murphy / NBAE via Getty Images
Wiggins turned out to be worthy of his contract by making an average of the heights in points in points, rebounds and aid this season for the Thunder in 76 games. But since the start of the playoffs, his role has been sporadic based on the opponent.
Wiggins scored 21 points in match 1 in his first round series against Memphis’ grizzly grozz and has an average of 9.1 points in 13.8 minutes in the four -game scanning. He played in the seven games of the semi-finals of the West Conference against the Denver Nuggets, with an average of 6.6 points in 14.3 minutes per game.
During the West Conference final, Wiggins scored seven points combined in four games, was aimlessly in two competitions and did not play in match 4. He also played only seven minutes (five of which were late with the match in hand) in match 5 against Minnesota. Subsequently, Wiggins eagerly awaited his first appearance in the final instead of worrying about his role so far in the playoffs.
“I just do the same thing I have done in the past two years,” said Wiggins. “Trust our coach staff. First buy in the team and understand that success will come. I trust it and I want to win first, celebrate my teammates and everything will go out. ”
Time will say how much Wiggins plays against the Pacers, but sleeps says that his disinterested teammate “will always be ready”.
“I’m not worried about it. He has always been about the team first,” said sleep. “And when his name is called, he will always be ready. He had an incredible regular season. Each time he was called his name, he was always ready. Nothing will change for this purpose. Everything that is in coaching staff, but when he gets his name called, he will always play his best.”
Shortly after the end of the finals, the NBA draft will take place in Brooklyn, New York, on June 25.
For anyone written late or who does not postpone himself, Wiggins offered a few words of wisdom.
“You just have to trust God. Do not take things for granted and trust the process,” said Wiggins. “If you take your time in your trip and work hard, things will be chargeable and work in your favor.”
