Horrifying Stat No. 3: Andrew Wiggins’ frigid start
Any Warriors fan paying attention to this season can likely tell you two things: Stephen Curry has been amazing, and Andrew Wiggins has been ice-cold. The player whom the Warriors leaned on in the 2022 playoffs has been both timid and inaccurate to start the season, a nasty combination that has turned Wiggins into a lodestone weighing down the rest of the offense.
Wiggins has scored just 116 total points in 11 games to start the season; that’s the fewest of any 11-game stretch at any point in his career. He’s just 4-for-26 from 3-point range thus far, and he hasn’t made more than a single 3-pointer in any one game.
Since joining the Warriors that’s by far the lowest percentage (15.4 percent) he’s ever shot from 3 in an 11-game stretch; the second-worst stretch was last season when he shot 24.1 percent on 54 attempts. The low volume is just as worrisome as the percentage; the fewest 3-pointers Wiggins had attempted in an 11-game sample was 47 until the last few weeks when he’s taken just 26.
Want one more frigid stat? Wiggins is hitting just 50 percent of his free-throws; Shaquille O’Neal beat that mark in 12 different seasons in his career. It’s not just the shooting, either, as Wiggins boasts an ugly assist-to-turnover ratio and he has just two steals the entire season. One season after pulling down five rebounds per game he has only 3.7 per game this year.
The Warriors are hoping that Wiggins can find his form and become the Wiggins of old. They don’t want to consider more drastic options, whether that’s moving him to the bench or considering a trade.
They need Wiggins to find himself, another player to step up, and to find a way to take healthier shots. If they can, with Curry playing at this level, they’re a contender. If not they’re likely looking at another early playoff exit from a low playoff seed.