If you go back and read some of the stories written about Andrew Wiggins from his tenure with the Minnesota Timberwolves, you can see why the Warriors were able to get their hands on the relatively young two-way star in a trade.
Many felt Wiggins wasn’t living up to his max contract status. Worse, he was labeled an inconsistent worker who sometimes floated through games. But the Warriors haven’t seen that Wiggins since he joined the organization. He’s been chided to be more aggressive going to the hoop, but has been a low-maintenance, reliable, defensive-minded force who doesn’t mind doing the dirty work to win a championship. He proved Monday night he can take over games, too, even in the NBA Finals.
Following Wiggins’ career night in Game 5, when he scored 26 points with 13 rebounds and a menacing, mean-mugging dunk, his teammates continued to correct the record about formerly reported Wiggins slander.
Back in 2019, Sean Deveney of Sporting News wrote a scathing report that shed a bad light on Wiggins.
Sources familiar with the situation told Sporting News that (Jimmy) Butler is uncertain about playing with Wiggins — Butler had problems last season with Wiggins, his work ethic and his approach on the defensive end of the floor. (Tom) Thibodeau has had similar problems with Wiggins in the past, too, and he had some hope that bringing a tough-minded veteran like Butler into the locker room would spur Wiggins to improve. It didn’t.
That doesn’t jive with what the Warriors have been saying since Wiggins was acquired via trade in March 2020. Draymond Green’s postgame comments from Game 5 contradict that reporting.
“When he first came here, and I'll never forget, it was when Thibs [Tom Thibodeau] wasn't with the Knicks, and Thibs was like, you're going to love him,” Green said. “He competes. He defends. And he was telling us Jimmy loved him. And we all know how Jimmy Butler is. If you have any softness to you, Jimmy don't like you. That's how Jimmy is cut. He's continued to show that. He's continued to get better. He's taken on every challenge that we have thrown in front of him.”
In December, Andre Iguodala also shared a funny Wiggins anecdote from one of their former mutual teammates, Jimmy Butler.
“He really liked playing with Wiggs and that was all I needed to hear, to be honest, cause Jimmy doesn’t like anybody,” Iguodala said. “So when Jimmy said he liked Wiggs, I started kinda looking at it different.”
As Warriors president/general manager Bob Myers told 95.7 The Game last week, "Nobody wanted Wiggins," when the Warriors executed the trade in 2020.
From maligned player in Minnesota to big-time Finals contributor in The Bay, Wiggins has completely changed the narrative over the past two years and three months.
