Andrew Wiggins

Andrew Christian Wiggins (born February 23, 1995) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the first overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers after one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks.

Wiggins grew up in Canada before attending his last two years of high school in the United States, where he was named a McDonald's All-American. At Kansas, he was named a second-team consensus All-American before becoming the second Canadian to be selected No. 1 overall in an NBA draft. After a preseason trade to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Wiggins earned NBA Rookie of the Year honors for the 2014–15 season. After five-and-a-half seasons with Minnesota, he was traded to Golden State in 2020. In 2022, Wiggins won his first NBA championship and was selected for his first NBA All-Star game, and was named a Western Conference starter. He has also been a member of the Canadian national team.

Early life

Wiggins was born in Toronto, Ontario and raised in the nearby Vaughan portion of Thornhill, Ontario. He is the son of former NBA player Mitchell Wiggins, an American, and former Olympic track and field sprinter Marita Payne-Wiggins, a Canadian who is originally from Barbados. His parents met as student athletes at Florida State University. He attended elementary school at Glen Shields Public School, and high school at Vaughan Secondary School.

Wiggins began playing organized basketball when he was nine, joining an under-10 team in Toronto. At the time, he was 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m). He dunked a basketball for the first time when he was 13, and a year later, he grew to 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) and shattered a glass backboard after dunking on a rim at the Dufferin Clark Community Centre in Vaughan.

High school career

Wiggins attended Vaughan Secondary School in Vaughan for his first two years of high school. In his 2010–11 sophomore year, he led the school's AAAA basketball team to a 44–1 record, en route to winning the Ontario provincial championship. In the championship game, he scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, amid chants of "Over-rated!" from the crowd.

In 2011, he transferred to Huntington Prep School in Huntington, West Virginia. During his junior season, he averaged 24.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.7 blocks per game. As a senior, he averaged 23.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 2.5 assists per game.

Wiggins had been rated as the top prospect for 2014, but announced in October 2012 that he would officially reclassify into his original high school class of 2013, after having repeated a grade in middle school. He needed just one remaining credit in English to graduate from Huntington Prep. He was immediately placed ahead of the previous number one prospect, Jabari Parker, by ESPN.

On February 7, 2013, after an article in Sports Illustrated criticized Canadian basketball and Wiggins' work ethic, he responded later that day, scoring 57 points in a 111–59 win over Marietta College.

Wiggins was named the 2013 Naismith Prep Player of the Year on February 25. He was named the 2013 Gatorade National Player of the Year on March 28 as the nation's top high school player. He was the first Canadian player to be so named. In May 2013, he was named Mr. Basketball USA. He was ranked number one high school basketball player by SLAM magazine.

In April 2013, Wiggins played in the Jordan Brand Classic All-American game in Brooklyn. He scored 19 points and tied Julius Randle for lead scorer for the East team.

College career

Wiggins committed to Kansas on May 14, 2013. Before the announcement, he had narrowed his choices to Florida State, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina. Wiggins joined the Kansas team on June 19, 2013.

On January 13, 2014, Wiggins scored 17 points and collected 19 rebounds in a 77–70 victory over Iowa State, becoming only the second freshman in the last 15 years (along with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) to amass those numbers in a win against a ranked opponent.

Wiggins averaged 17.1 points per game (ppg), 5.9 rebounds per game (rpg), and made 34.1% of his three-point field goals in his freshman year at Kansas. On January 22, 2014, Wiggins was named a Top 25 Finalist for the John R. Wooden Men's Player of the Year award by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. On February 28, he was named one of the 10 semi-finalists for Naismith College Player of the Year.

On March 8, 2014, Wiggins scored 41 points against West Virginia, the most for a Big 12 Conference freshman since Michael Beasley scored 44 points against Baylor in 2008.

Professional career

Minnesota Timberwolves (2014–2020)

Rookie of the Year (2014–2015)

Wiggins declared for the 2014 NBA draft on March 31, 2014. He was selected first overall in the draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers on June 26, 2014, becoming the second Canadian picked number one in the draft, after Anthony Bennett, who had been selected first overall one year prior in the 2013 NBA draft, also by Cleveland. On August 23, a three-team trade was completed involving the Cavaliers, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Philadelphia 76ers. As part of the deal, Wiggins and Bennett were traded to the Wolves, along with Thaddeus Young, then of the Sixers. The Cavaliers received Kevin Love from Minnesota, while the Sixers received Luc Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved from Minnesota and a 2015 first-round draft pick from Cleveland. Wiggins became just the second player since the ABA–NBA merger to be drafted as the number one pick, only to be traded afterwards without playing a single game for the team he was originally selected for; Chris Webber was the first following the 1993 draft.

In his NBA debut on October 29, 2014, Wiggins scored six points in a 105–101 season-opening loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. He went on to earn Rookie of the Month honours in the Western Conference for the first two months of the season. On January 31, he scored 33 points in a loss to the Cavaliers. On February 13, Wiggins won the Rising Stars Challenge MVP after scoring 22 points for Team World in a 121–112 win over Team USA. On April 30, he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year for the 2014–15 season.

Career highs in scoring (2015–2017)

On November 7, 2015, Wiggins scored a game-high 31 points in a 102–93 overtime win over the Chicago Bulls. Two days later, he tied his career high with 33 points in a 117–107 win over the Atlanta Hawks, thus recording consecutive 30-point games for the first time in his career. On December 18, he recorded 32 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in a 99–95 win over the Sacramento Kings, joining LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Tobias Harris as the only players 20 or younger to record at least 30 points, 10 boards and five assists in a game since 2000. On January 8, 2016, he scored a then career-high 35 points in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On November 8, 2016, Wiggins scored a career-high 36 points and hit a career-best six three-pointers in a 119–110 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Five days later, he set a new career high with 47 points in a 125–99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, becoming the first Canadian-born player to score 40-plus points in an NBA game. On February 14, he had a 41-point effort in a 116–108 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The following day, he scored 40 points in a 112–99 win over the Denver Nuggets, becoming just the second Minnesota player to record back-to-back 40-point games. On February 24, he scored 27 points in a 97–84 win over the Dallas Mavericks, topping 20 points for the 16th straight game, tying a franchise record.

First playoff appearance (2017–2020)

On October 11, 2017, Wiggins signed a five-year, $148 million contract extension with the Timberwolves. On October 22, he scored 27 points and hit the game-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer to lift the Timberwolves to a 115–113 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. On January 20, 2018, he scored 22 of his season-high 29 points in the first half of the Timberwolves' 115–109 win over the Toronto Raptors. Two days later, he set a new season high with 40 points in a 126–118 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. On February 7, 2018, in a 140–138 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Wiggins reached 6,000 career points. At 22 years, 349 days, he became the sixth-youngest player to reach the plateau. By the end of the season, Wiggins finished with a scoring average of 17.7 PPG, his lowest since his rookie year.