What a difference 12 months can make. Andrew Wiggins has been a lot through the past year, but from simply an on-court basketball perspective, the difference between this version of the Golden State Warriors forward and the one of the same point last season is stark.
Wiggins continued his impressive early season form with a game-high 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, leading the Warriors to a comfortable 120-97 win that keeps them in top spot on the Western Conference standings.
Andrew Wiggins early season comparison is stunning
Wednesday's outing brought Wiggins' seventh game of 15 or more points in 12 appearances so far this season. Compare that to last season where in his first 12 games, he only had one game of at least 15 points -- a 17-point performance in a 141-139 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It took until January 15 -- the 40th game of the season -- for Wiggins to record his seventh game of 15 points or more. He's now done it nearly two months earlier, showcasing far more consistent production from a rejuvenated Wiggins to start this season.
The 2022 All-Star is now averaging 16.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists, having shot 47.3% from the field and 39.3% from 3-point range on nearly five attempts per game. In his first 12 games of last season, Wiggins was averaging 10.4 points on 39.5% from the floor and 15.2% from beyond the arc on less than three attempts per game.
Just as importantly, Wiggins is back towards his best as a defender, helping the Warriors to the league's fourth-ranked defense to start the season. Through the first 12 games of last season the Canadian had a defensive field goal percentage of 47.8%, yet opposing players are now finding it far more difficult at 41.7% to start this season.
If those contrasting numbers aren't startling enough, the plus-minus difference is even more staggering. Wiggins was easily a team-worst -72 in 313 minutes through his first 12 games of last season -- the kind of negative impact that eventually led to a demotion to the bench for the first time in his career. This season Wiggins is almost the exact opposite -- a +73 in 326 minutes so far, ranking him third on the Warriors behind Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
While many envisaged that the Warriors' improvement would come from the development of their young players, Wiggins' return to close to his best may have been the biggest individual factor in the team's incredibly strong start.