If you had told someone before the season started that Andrew Wiggins would be the second-best player on the court during the NBA Finals, they probably would have told you to get your head checked. As improbable as that sounded back then, it did become reality as Wiggins shone on the biggest stage in the sport.
He was already building up his case as one of the best two-way players in the league after he managed to somewhat bother Luka Doncic in the Western Conference Finals and he rubber-stamped it in the Finals. Wiggins was the second-leading scorer for the Warriors and while his scoring outburst in Game 5 was vital, it was his impact on the defensive end over the course of the series that won him a lot of praise. Charles Barkley joined in on the long list of stars to praise Wiggins during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.
(starts at the 5:26 mark):
“I think the key with Wiggins is he kind of got screwed Pat being the number one pick in the draft. When you know you’re the number one pick in the draft, you’re supposed to be all-world all-world and now he can be like the fourth, fifth-best player. And now you factor in like oh he’s the number one pick but now he don’t have to be one, two, three, or four, he can just be a really good role player and the rest is history.”
“He is in a great situation because he doesn’t have to play great every night and I will tell you he plays some of the best defense I’ve ever seen. I mean he had Tatum so flustered, I’ve never seen a guy have a hundred turnovers in a playoff run.”
That’s some very high praise from Barkley right there at the end, as he has seen some truly great defenders over the last few decades. Wiggins deserves it too after he put the clamps on Jayson Tatum, who was very inefficient throughout the series, which hurt the Celtics big time.
Few players have ever done their reputation as much good in one playoff run as Wiggins has done in 2022 and the onus is now on him to build on this and become a star in this league for the years to come.
