Few players in these playoffs have seen their stock among NBA circles go up as much as Andrew Wiggins. After being drafted #1 overall in 2014, Wiggins hadn’t quite lived up to the billing of being a superstar and many felt he would stick out like a sore thumb after being traded to the Golden State Warriors in 2020.
Instead, Wiggins has shown that he can be a key contributor to a championship-contending team and his impact in these playoffs has been there for all to see. He has provided the team with some offense as he always does and more importantly, he has been terrific on the defensive end. He did a great job on Luka Doncic in the Conference Finals and will now get to face Boston’s dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Wiggins spoke about the challenge of guarding those two and how much he’s relishing the opportunity.
(via San Francisco Chronicle:)
“I love taking on the challenge,” Wiggins said. “Tatum, Brown, they’re the best offensive players on Boston, so it’s something I’m looking forward to.”
It’s great to see Wiggins with this kind of mindset and he has been excellent for Golden State thanks to it. Steve Kerr even went so far as to say that the Wiggins trade was key to the Warriors’ reconstruction and that might be true to a certain extent. He certainly provided them with some athleticism on the wings that they lacked a bit and it will be needed against Tatum and Brown.
The two Celtics stars are combining for almost 50 points per game in these playoffs and Golden State will rely on Wiggins to slow them down a little bit. If he does manage to accomplish that task, then it will go a long way towards securing their first title since 2018.
