OKLAHOMA CITY – Proudly wearing a 2025 NBA Finals hat slightly turned to the side and an NBA Finals T-shirt, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins sat in front of his locker to reflect on his challenging road to a potential championship ring.
“I sat down for a second because I never thought I’d be able to compete for a Finals championship,” Wiggins told Andscape after the Thunder clinched an NBA Finals berth with a 124-94 rout over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on May 28. “To have advanced and made it this far alone is a blessing in itself.”
Wiggins was a key reserve for the Thunder on their road to the NBA Finals this season, averaging 12 points and 3.9 rebounds off the bench. But back in 2021, just being a member of the Thunder appeared to be a longshot for the 6-foot-5 guard who was drafted late in the second round without a guaranteed NBA contract.
“His whole journey here has been a lot of ups and downs,” Thunder guard Luguentz Dort said.
Wiggins averaged 14.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists as a junior for Maryland during the 2020-21 season. Most NBA mock drafts didn’t have him as a first- or even second-round pick in 2021. And he didn’t initially have an invite to the NBA Pre-Draft Camp. But after performing well in the G League Select Camp, he was invited to the NBA Pre-Draft Camp, where he played impressively. So instead of returning to Maryland for his senior season, the 2021 All-Big Ten honorable mention selection kept his name in the draft.
Wiggins had a 2021 NBA draft party with his family and friends at a restaurant in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina. He expected to be selected in the 30s and 40s of the second round. Instead, Wiggins was selected by the Thunder with the 55th overall pick in the second round of the 60-pick draft. There was nothing guaranteed for Wiggins, who had to prove his worth with Oklahoma City at summer league. Typically, NBA draft picks selected in the latter part of the second round are long shots to make a team.
“We’re sitting there watching the draft and there was a lot of mixed emotions,” Wiggins said. “The second round started. There were a couple [draft] spots with teams that I thought I had good workouts with and I’m expecting to possibly be drafted and don’t get drafted. Then late in the second round, I get a call from my agent saying the Thunder are drafting me and want to sign a two-way [contract].
“I wasn’t necessarily upset. I was happy and grateful to be blessed, but I wasn’t happy either. So, I was just glad to have heard my name and know that I was being given an opportunity.”
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Wiggins had hopes of signing a standard NBA contract after summer league. But after a couple of games of summer league play, the Thunder kept their word by signing Wiggins to a two-way contract. With a two-way contract, he was able to either play for the Thunder or with the G League Oklahoma City Blue.
Wiggins’ mentality at the time was to make the best of the situation with the hopes of winning a guaranteed roster spot with the Thunder.
“My mentality was kind of buying into what the team had, but also not limiting my level of confidence and maybe my play style to a degree,” Wiggins said. “Just kind of being able to maintain a certain sense of confidence in the work that I’ve put in to get to that situation. But also, still trying to adapt to the NBA level and the team specifically so that I could earn minutes on my way on the court and not just dismiss the opportunity that I had in front of me.”
Wiggins actually was so impressive for the Thunder that he never played in the G League during his rookie season. He averaged 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 32.9% from 3-point range during the Thunder’s first 55 games of the 2021-22 season. Having proved his worth as an NBA player, Thunder general manager Sam Presti converted Wiggins’ contract from two-way to a standard NBA contract on Feb. 12, 2022. After making $1 million as a rookie, the extension paid $1.5 million and $1.8 million the next two seasons.
“Coming off the rookie season I had, I thought I kind of earned a certain sense of minutes, a certain sense of opportunity in that second year,” Wiggins said.
Instead, Wiggins’ second season offered challenges that perhaps played a part in him adjusting to his ever-changing role now. In 2022-23, he played in 70 regular-season games for the Thunder with 14 starts, but he also spent 24 games playing in the G League. Again, Wiggins had to earn his opportunity as “things were not just set up to be favored and given to me, so I kind of had to weather that storm and make it through that season.”
Wiggins said his confidence and work ethic helped him overcome that challenge.
“When I did get the opportunities to play, I would go out and outperform the expectation of some of the minutes that I had,” Wiggins said. “And that was just me continuing to put in a certain level of work and trust having confidence behind the scenes when I played, whether it was the last five minutes of a game or after sitting two games in a row or starting the next one.”
After a solid third NBA season, the Thunder re-signed him again in the summer of 2024 to a major jump in salary with a five-year, $57 million deal. Wiggins signed the contract back home while training in Washington, D.C., with his parents and brother nearby.
“I was super happy and excited because from where I was expected to be when I left college, if you would’ve told me that three years later I’d be signing a four- or five-year deal, it was just a lot to intake at once,” Wiggins said.
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Wiggins proved worthy of his contract by averaging career highs in points, rebounds and assists this season for the Thunder in 76 games. But ever since the playoffs started, his role has been sporadic based on the opponent.
Wiggins scored 21 points in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies and averaged 9.1 points in 13.8 minutes in the four-game sweep. He played in all seven games of the Western Conference semifinals against the Denver Nuggets, averaging 6.6 points in 14.3 minutes per game.
In the Western Conference finals, Wiggins scored a combined seven points in four games, went scoreless in two contests and didn’t play in Game 4. He also only played seven minutes (five of which were late with the game in hand) in Game 5 against Minnesota. Afterward, Wiggins was looking forward to his first Finals appearance instead of worrying about his role so far in the playoffs.
“I’m just doing the same thing I’ve done for the last couple of years,” Wiggins said. “Trust in our coaching staff. Buying into the team first and understand that success will come. I trust in that and want to win first, celebrate my teammates and everything will work its way out.”
Time will tell how much Wiggins plays against the Pacers, but Dort says his unselfish teammate is “always going to be ready.”
“I’m not worried about that. He’s always been about the team first,” Dort said. “And when his name is called, he is always going to be ready. He had an amazing regular season. Anytime he got his name called, he was always ready. Nothing is going to change on that end. All that is on the coaching staff, but when he gets his name called he is always going to play his best.”
Not long after the Finals end, the NBA draft will take place in Brooklyn, New York, on June 25. Again, there will be draftees like Wiggins who face a daunting road to earn a spot in the NBA.
For anyone drafted late or who goes undrafted, Wiggins offered some words of wisdom.
“Just trust in God. Do not take things for granted and trust in the process,” Wiggins said. “If you take your time in your journey and work hard, things will pay off and work in your favor.”
