Andrew Wiggins was phenomenal this past season for the Golden State Warriors, making the first All-Star game of his career while being on the best team of his career in terms of win-to-loss ratio.
He only built on this going into the playoffs, taking a backseat for Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Jordan Poole to explode for incredible scoring performances while he did all the dirty work on his way to his first NBA Championship.
Andrew Wiggins was a force for the Golden State Warriors in their championship run this year but has only opened the door for what he can do for them.
In the playoffs, Andrew Wiggins averaged 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game as well as a steal and a block.
He saw a huge leap in rebounding during the playoffs and even went out to say, “I’ll never average 4 rebounds again.” in an interview following the NBA Finals.
This plus his near 20-point-per-game clip for his career makes it seem as if a light went off in his saying “I never want to be a non-All-Star again!” This is not an actual quote, although we all hope it was.
If he can continue the high efficiency that he saw with the Warriors while increasing his scoring load with more spacing from Klay Thompson and James Wiseman, he may be able to contend for an All-NBA spot.
Andrew Wiggins is an elite defender who has been snubbed from the NBA All-Defensive teams for the past two seasons.
At the end of the 2020-21 and the 2021-22 seasons the biggest award snub was easily Andrew Wiggins not making the All-Defensive team either time.
Andrew Wiggins has been easily the best defensive piece on the Warriors with the exception of Draymond Green, who played very far below his standards in the 2020-21 season.
Wiggins will defend the opposing team’s best player every game, contest nearly every shot, and still average a steal and a block per game while never giving anything easy.
In the series against the Mavericks, he even volunteered to play a full-court press against Luka Doncic the entire game, yet still helped make the young MVP candidate a non-factor for portions of the game.
With a possible increase in rebounding numbers, it is possible that he is able to finally break the barrier into an All-Defensive team selection this upcoming season.
With his incredible defense and ability to score on all three levels, very little stands between Andrew Wiggins and an All-NBA nod.
If Andrew Wiggins is able to rebound the way he says he is going to next season, it is very possible to see a noticeable uptick in his points per game because even though he rarely shot the ball in the playoffs due to Steph Curry going completely insane with his scoring output, he was still able to find put back opportunities.
In the regular season, the Warriors are going to lean on Wiggins to score even more to keep Curry and Thompson from carrying too much of the scoring load to reduce their wear and tear prior to the playoffs.
If Wiggins were to grab rebounds and gain second chance opportunities as he did in the playoffs while making free throws at a clip similar to the way he shot early in his career, he could realistically score 24 points per game.
24 points per game matched with 8 rebounds and 4 assists per game while sitting at around 47% from the field, 39% from three, and 76% from the free throw line with his defensive work is not only possible for him next season but is also at an All-NBA caliber.
All he has to do is hit his free throws and continue rebounding while doing everything else the same, not a big ask.
All in all, saying Andrew Wiggins may be an All-NBA caliber player next season is far from impossible and is actually a realistic goal for him to accomplish. All eyes are on him this year.