Aaron Wiggins Represents Maryland in the 2021 NBA Draft

On a night filled with emotions ranging from anxiety to excitement, the 2021 NBA Draft easily proved why it is one of the NBA’s most anticipated events of the year. Underneath the bright lights of the Barclays Center, the NBA Draft literally had everything.

The glitz and glamour of watch parties and stylish prospects. The long-awaited announcement of Cade Cunningham going No.1 overall to the Detroit Pistons. Even the NBA’s heartfelt tribute to former Kentucky guard and would-be prospect Terrence Clarke who tragically passed away in a car accident earlier this year.

But as fans of Maryland basketball, nothing was more exciting than hearing Maryland guard Aaron Wiggins get his name called as he was selected in the second round with the 55th pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

With this, Wiggins becomes the 6th active Terrapins player and joins a lineage of Maryland greats that includes Steve Francis, Steve Blake, and others. In celebration of Aaron Wiggins reaching the NBA, let’s take a deep dive into his game as well as break down how he will fit amongst the young core developing in Oklahoma City.

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Aaron Wiggins Player Profile

Standing at 6-foot-6 and 200 pounds, Wiggins is a combo guard who plays extremely aggressively above the rim with his athleticism being his best and most translatable asset. With a 6-foot-6 wingspan, Wiggins is bouncy, finishes strong at the basket and is versatile as a guy who has the measurables to guard the one through three at the next level. 

Wiggins is best as both a slasher and a driver, but he is way more electric around the rim and is just impressive in transition. The other interesting thing about Wiggins is that he is an above average rebounder for the position. He had six games of ten or more rebounds this season with two season-high 11-rebound games against Nebraska and Purdue. 

Looking at the overall season, Wiggins averaged 14.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game on 44.6% shooting from the floor. Arguably his best game came in the Round of 32 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide. In this game he put up a season-high 27 points along with six rebounds, three assists, two steals and shot 5-of-8 from three. Although it was in a losing effort, he had one of his best performances against one of the better defensive teams in the country this season (31^stin defensive efficiency). 

Now when looking at his skillset and his translation to the pro game, the big swing skill for him is going to be getting his mojo back from three. Back when he was the Big Ten 6th Man of the Year his freshman season, he shot a career-high 41.3% from beyond the arc on 4.4 attempts a game. This season he was significantly down percentage wise (35.6%), but he did take more attempts per game (5.2) showing an emphasis to grow that part of his game. 

With his combination of size, strength, potential defensive versatility and a three-point shot, Wiggins could develop into “steal” for the Oklahoma City Thunder, especially coming out of the second round. With the key words associated with Wiggins being “potential” and “upside,” it is only right that he was selected by a team like the Thunder who have shown a track record of valuing athleticism and should be willing to throw him into the fire early considering he is a 22-year-old that still has a lot of untapped potential left. 

Aaron Wiggins’ Fit on the Oklahoma City Thunder

For those who forgot, Memphis took a flyer out on a similar player in Brandon Clarke out of Gonzaga and he has become a solid role player for them next to Ja Morant. Next to a legitimate dual-threat point guard like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Wiggins could easily have a Clarke-like effect off the bench as a high energy guy who can provide 10 to 15 minutes of athletic wing play and highlight reel worthy plays every now and then.

It will be interesting to see if he can revive his once deadly shooting touch from the outside and hover back around 37-40% from three with a little less offensive responsibility. If he can mold himself back into that prototypical 3-and-D wing player, he could end up becoming a more athletic version of Phoenix Suns forward Cam Johnson. Johnson was selected maybe 10 to 15 spots higher than most expected in the 2019 draft, but he ended up becoming an interquel asset to the Suns rotation in their run to the NBA Finals.

Add in the heightened athleticism and value of being selected at No.55 as opposed to No.11 like Johnson and you have the perfect “steal” worthy prospect. Essentially making OKC General Manager Sam Presti look like a genius for getting an elite Day 1 contributor at one of the most coveted positions in the league. Not to mention he would be doing so with a pick that most teams view as either a throw away or a draft-and-stash.

The area where Wiggins can really have an instant impact though is on the defensive end. His fit next to a guy like Luguentz Dort should be somewhat seamless and gives the Thunder two guys who should be able to fly around on the perimeter and guard the 1 through 3 positions.

When looking at Oklahoma City’s roster, they are chalk full of rangy, long athletic wings which nowadays is a high commodity. From Dort to Darius Bazley, Aleksej Pokusevski and even Josh Giddey out of Australia who they selected with the 6th overall pick all either stand at 6-foot-8 or taller and/or have a 6-foot-6 wingspan or longer.

Throwing Wiggins in a rotation like that with so much length makes him an interesting prospect because he may be the best physical athlete of this group. His versatility and physical frame should also help him in terms of dealing with switch pick-and-roll scenarios which happen early and often in today’s NBA. It would not be a surprise if the Thunder sent him down to the G-League to play to build up his confidence like how they did with Moses Brown and Aleksej Pokusevski this past season.

But regardless of whether he takes some time down with the OKC Blue or is asked to learn on the fly as a spark plug off the bench is a guy who fits the timeline and prospect profile that aligns with the Thunder’s roster philosophy. Aaron Wiggins is not a perfect prospect by any means, but as an upside pick in the late-second round, Oklahoma City may have themselves another diamond in the ruff that could grow into an impact player sooner rather than later.