Considering how deep rosters are, it’s easy to understand how some players can clip through the cracks and be deemed underrated. The average NBA viewer likely struggles to name the end of the bench player.
Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes decided to tackle that problem. He listed the best-kept secret on all 30 NBA teams for the 2024-25 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder had a backup wing extended this offseason as their choice.
Aaron Wiggins will enter his fourth season with the Thunder. He went from the No. 55 pick of the 2021 NBA draft to being a key rotation piece who can occasionally start.
“Thanks to an increasingly dominant set of Oklahoma City Thunder teammates, Aaron Wiggins’ minutes-per-game average has declined—from 24.2 to 18.5 to 15.7—in each of his three seasons since making the league in 2021-22 as the 55th overall pick.
He’s lost that playing time while increasing his three-point percentage from 30.4 to 39.3 to last year’s ridiculous 49.2 percent during the same span.
So, just to get this straight, as Wiggins went from being a total non-shooter to the most accurate in the league (minimum 100 three-point attempts) last season, he played…less? It must be because he’s a terrible defender who gives away so much on that end that his elite marksmanship can’t make up the difference.
Sorry, what’s that? He posted a 95th percentile steal rate and graded out as a positive by D-EPM last season?”
The Thunder are rich with depth. Wiggins’ role has more to do with who’s ahead of him on the depth chart than of himself. The 25-year-old is a savvy forward.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]