Andrew Wiggins is quietly flipping his narrative in Golden State

When Kevin Durant decided to leave Golden State in the 2019 offseason, the Warriors had an impossibly large hole to fill in their lineup. Instead of letting Durant walk for nothing in free agency, they made something out of nothing and executed a sign and trade that landed D’Angelo Russell – who was later flipped for Andrew Wiggins and a future first round pick.

This move sure raised some eyebrows in Golden State and was seen as a less-than-ideal way to fill the void left by KD.

Through six seasons in Minnesota, Wiggins had built a reputation as a lackadaisical lottery bust, an inefficient jump-shot-happy ball hog, and anything but a foundational piece in a winning environment. In short, he was not exactly the type of player to be gunning for another championship alongside Stephen Curry.

Many were wondering what the hell the Warriors were thinking acquiring a losing player that earns an exorbitant $30 million per year.

Steve Kerr, the Warriors head coach, was tossed another restoration project to turn into a winning player.

Kerr said:

"“…it’s a matter of catching Andrew up to speed with what we like to do here and really trying to make an impact on him regarding our process and how we like to do our business and how we can help him get better and how he can help our team get better.”"

Luckily, if any team can turn a player’s career around, it’s the Warriors.

The Warriors took JaVale McGee from near irrelevancy and turned him into a serviceable NBA center.  They turned Shaun Livingston into a championship backup point guard after a near career-ending injury. Another lottery pick, Andrew Bogut, went from an average player in Milwaukee to a key piece of a championship team in Oakland.

You can say what you want about Kerr, but he has the track record.

Still, Wiggins would be Kerr’s most expensive, consequential project.

Historically known as an inefficient, losing player, Andrew Wiggins has steadily begun to flip that narrative on its head with impactful play for the Warriors.

Wiggins only got 12 games in with his new teammates in the covid-shortened 2019-20 NBA season.

While playing for a team that owned the league’s worst record, Wiggins showed promising signs that a change of scenery could do the trick.

Warriors fans wanted to believe that the Kerr ‘team-first’ culture was the remedy for an underperforming lottery pick. Many fans around the league (still jealous of the five-straight Finals appearances) were closely watching and waiting for the project to crash and burn like a Trump presidency.

Now 13 games into the 2020-21 season, Wiggins hasn’t been making headlines by any means.

But that’s the point.

Where are all the naysayers and pundits who couldn’t wait to laugh at the Warriors for wasting their money on Wiggins?

They are quiet, for the most part, because Wiggins has been busy turning this narrative on its head.

The most astonishing growth in Wiggins’ game has been his defense.

He has quickly earned the role of defensive stopper, earning assignments against the opposing team’s best wings, playing excellent, sturdy defense across multiple positions, and earning a reputation as not just an average defender, but — I dare say it — a great defender.

Your eyes have not been tricking you. Wiggins is currently ranked ninth in the league with 1.6 blocks per game (as of January 19th).

On the offensive side of the ball, Wiggins isn’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard, but he’s averaging a respectable 18.7 points on a career-low 32.7 minutes per game.

It’s his efficiency that has been turning heads, now with ample sample size.

Wiggins is shooting at career-high rates, knocking down nearly 39% of his long balls with an effective field goal percentage of 51.3%.

Wiggins’ M.O. as an inefficient volume shooter is beginning to fade as he concurrently earns the love of basketball fans in the Bay Area.

In an up and down start to the season for the 7-6 Warriors, Wiggins has surprisingly been one of the team’s reliable players with his strong defensive effort, level-headed demeanor, and ability to get a bucket when called upon.

Is Wiggins’ play sustainable?

Many of the Wiggins doubters will surely want to see more before they start deleting old tweets.

At the end of the day, the season is still young. Despite his positive play, overall, the Warriors have been outscored by 5.2 points per game during his minutes on the floor, but that can largely be attributed to a few very bad losses early in the season.

Look for that number to climb as the Dubs find their footing.

While there are areas in Wiggins’ game that still yearn for improvements, such as his rebounding and play-making, what Wiggins has shown the Warriors thus far this season has been more than they could have hoped for in their wildest dreams.

If he can keep it up the Warriors may find themselves climbing higher in the playoff picture than previously imagined and the front office surely will be happy with what was salvaged from Durant’s departure.