The Golden State Warriors could end up paying Andrew Wiggins after this upcoming season, and if they do, they’ll need to see improvement, especially after his extremely impactful performances in the 2022 NBA Finals.
He’s certainly making a case for himself, but they could need more to give him another nine-figure deal.
The Golden State Warriors will have league-changing decisions to make after this season, and Andrew Wiggins improving could make one of them easier.
When I say paying Wiggins, it means that they’d choose to keep him over giving Jordan Poole a multi-year deal. Poole will be on a player option this upcoming season and will command a large deal following the year as well.
The Dubs cannot possibly keep Wiggins, Poole, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson all at their current market valuations, so something must give and most think the battle is between Wiggins and Poole.
Well, we know Poole will continue to improve, but how can Wiggins increase his value? It will come in his rebounding and free-throw shooting.
Wiggins averaged 4.5 rebounds per game last season.
His career high in the category was the year prior to that when he averaged 4.9 per game. While his minutes did drastically increase, he averaged 7.5 per game during the Dubs playoff run and an even higher amount during their six NBA Finals matches.
Wiggins isn’t going to need to score more to be more effective during his time on the court, but his rebounding numbers should improve if this coming season is any continuation of his dynamic playoff run.
As for his free-throw shooting, it was a career-low 63.4% last season. He needs to get back to his 72.3% career average. While Wiggins did also shoot a career-low 3.2 attempts per game, those are points being left on the sideline.
While the former should be about his effort and hustle, the latter will be something he works on during his practice time, and hopefully, it’s an area of concern that the coaching staff is aware of as well.
Wiggins was a first-time All-Star forward last season and should be able to hold that illustrious spot this coming season if he can make these slight improvements along with his continued track record of high-level scoring.