The Golden State Warriors acquired Andrew Wiggins two years ago with the hope he'd serve as a strong, reliable bridge between the team's personnel past and future. He more than lived up to that billing during his second season in the Bay, helping Golden State extend its dynasty by emerging as arguably the NBA's top-two way wing during the team's epic run toward another championship.
That coronation of his up-and-down career and winding developmental path seems a hazy memory for Wiggins now. Less than a month removed from the February 8th trade deadline, he isn't just a prime candidate to be moved from the Warriors, but has been one of the most ineffective, actively damaging players in basketball this season.
The question Golden State needs to answer soon isn't whether it could withstand Wiggins' absence if his below replacement-level play only marginally improves. It's whether any potential trade partner would value the three years and nearly $85 million remaining on his contract beyond 2024-25 as anything but negative value.
Wiggins, obviously, can't worry about the Warriors shipping him out. He's the type of personality actually capable of avoiding of any off-court noise, too. But finally showing Steve Kerr and Mike Dunleavy Jr. he can get back to being the player who was once a franchise cornerstone in Golden State would certainly go a long way toward Wiggins staying put.
What could help propel him toward that sorely, sorely needed—from both player and team perspectives—improvement before February 8th and beyond? Maybe Klay Thompson and his teammates “reminding Wiggins who he is.”
Klay Thompson's sage advice for Andrew Wiggins
Wiggins was back on the bench for Wednesday's game against the surging New Orleans Pelicans, Kerr having seen enough of lineups featuring he and Jonathan Kuminga in Golden State's previous loss. All the same issues that plagued the Dubs in an ugly loss to the Toronto Raptors befell them again regardless, including Wiggins' listless, barely-there performance.
He finished with five points, two rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes off the bench, shooting 2-of-8 from the field. Wiggins' -29 plus-minus was a better indication of his impact on the game. C.J. McCollum, Brandon Ingram and even role players like Dyson Daniels successfully attacked Wiggins off the dribble, and he looked out of sync as ever on the other end, multiple times losing his handle while otherwise cramping the Warriors' spacing and interrupting their flow.
Unfortunately, his play against the Pelicans wasn't much different from what's become expected of Wiggins this season. After the game, a frustrated Klay Thompson was asked how he and his teammates could help Wiggins emerge from the basketball wilderness.
“Just remind him who he is,” Thompson said, suddenly more engaged and animated. “Without Andrew Wiggins, this franchise doesn't see a championship in 2022. We gotta continue to remind Wiggs how great he really is—one of the best two-way players in the world. I know that ability is still in there.”
Thompson had a first-row seat to Wiggins' breakout during the Warriors' title run, but also knows a thing or two about about breaking out of slumps. He was a notoriously slow starter even before suffering those devastating back-to-back injuries in 2019 and 2020. After shaking off immense early struggles that became a league-wide talking point to lead the league in threes last season, Thompson joined Wiggins in the depths over the first few weeks of 2023-24.
Still missing the consistency that was once a hallmark of his game, Thompson has at least separated himself from Wiggins since yet another rough start. It's those shared recent struggles, not to mention a shared mental reaction to them, that makes Thompson uniquely suited to sympathizing with Wiggins directly.
“He reminds me of myself actually a lot. He internalizes a lot of things and he cares so much about his play that it can hurt him, just like myself,” Thompson said. “When I don't play up to my standard it hurts. That's what you wanna see of a teammate; you don't wanna see someone who just doesn't care. But Wiggs, if he ain't care, like I said, we wouldn't have won a championship two years ago.”
Barring another major upgrade in a separate deal, trading Wiggins would all but definitely close Golden State's title window this season. Among the only reason it's still just ajar, a barely perceptible breeze coming through, is Wiggins somehow climbing from the deepest hole of his career to scrape his peak again.
Thompson, at least, is fully confident that increasingly longshot possibility exists.
I'm grateful for him, and I know he's still got greatness ahead for himself,” he said of Wiggins. “It's in there.”
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