Andrew Wiggins reached 30 points only once in 71 games last season. It came more than a year ago, in mid-November at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a one-night blip in what was otherwise a deep early-season shooting slump.
He struggled enough that coach Steve Kerr even temporarily moved Wiggins to the bench for the first time in his career when their record stood at 10-14.
Circumstances are different for Wiggins and the Warriors this November. Neither are wobbling. Wiggins put up 30 points Friday night in Golden State’s 112-108 win in New Orleans, and the Warriors bumped their record to a conference-best 12-3, clinching Group C of the NBA Cup in the process.
It was Wiggins’ first 30-point night in more than a year, but it was a continuation of a steady streak more than a blip. This week, he had 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting against the Clippers, 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting against the Hawks and then 30 against the Pelicans on 9-of-14 shooting.
But this might’ve been the most consequential aspect of Wiggins’ stat line versus the Pelicans: 9 of 9 from the free-throw line, a sign of both his aggression and his shooting groove. That’s Wiggins’ most made free throws in a game since April 2021 and his most without a miss since he was a 20-point-per-game scorer with the Timberwolves in 2017.
“He’s in a great frame of mind,” Kerr told the media after the game. “The last couple of years have been very tough on him on a personal level. I think he has some peace of mind. He came into camp in great shape.”
Wiggins spent the summer burying his head in work and grieving his father, Mitchell Wiggins, who died in September after a prolonged illness that forced Andrew Wiggins away from the team at times the past two seasons. He showed up to training camp playing well enough that Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy noted how focused and sharp he looked in their intro news conferences.
Wiggins missed much of training camp with bronchitis but returned in time for the start of the regular season, rediscovering his elite defensive form on the perimeter while producing at a steady rate offensively in his first 13 games: 17.2 points on 48 percent shooting and 41 percent on 3s. Last season at this time, Wiggins was averaging 12.7 points on 41 percent overall and a destructive 26 percent from 3.
Against the Pelicans, Wiggins kept the sluggish Warriors in the game in the opening minutes, making three 3s and scoring 13 points in the first six minutes.
For many of Kerr’s defensively focused lineups to survive offensively around Steph Curry, they need Wiggins to keep spacing the floor consistently, either drawing defenders away or punishing them when they stray.
The last of Wiggins’ nine makes in New Orleans came with five minutes left as the Warriors tried to bleed away the win. Without a true second-star scorer next to Curry, it’s a by-committee approach. But Wiggins is the most accomplished of the options, having once been a go-to scorer. These are the kind of occasional isolation buckets they’ll need in crunchtime from him.
A couple of hours after Wiggins and the Warriors finished off the Pelicans, the Dallas Mavericks knocked off the Denver Nuggets, which clinched Group C of the NBA Cup for the Warriors. They advance to the quarterfinals with a chance to go to Las Vegas.
Their final pool game in Denver on Dec. 3 and the resulting point differential from across the conference will determine their venue and opponent in the quarterfinals. The Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets are the undefeated leaders of the other two groups, and the Mavericks are the favorites to land the wild-card slot.
(Photo: Tyler Kaufman / Getty Images)
