Aaron Wiggins Played His Most Complete Game vs. Kings

It was a one-point game in the middle of the third frame when Aaron Wiggins had to double jump in the air after leaving his feet too early and was still able to block Kings All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis at the rim. The Maryland product's third block of the night, coupled with his six rebounds and a steal to take the ball away from Sabonis on an entry pass.

This was Wiggins' most complete game in the NBA. He posted 18 points –– with the Thunder needing each bucket to pull out a 107-101 win over the Kings –– six assists, six rebounds, three blocks and a steal.

The big hindrance to Wiggins' game to date has been on the defensive end. His entire tenure in Bricktown, he has been at worst the team's third-best shot creator, with the ability to score at all three levels and play on and off the ball.

The 26-year-old has struggled to stay on the floor defending bigger bodies; he has made no bones about that, admitting to not being comfortable in that setting a year ago. However, on Tuesday against Sacramento, it all clicked for him. If that is sustained through this season, it reshapes the postseason role Wiggins can play.

While it is a small sample size, Wiggins has held matchups to 1-for-7 shooting at the rim (14.3%) while being just average at rim defense a year ago, with scorers converting at a 54.8% at the cup over the forward. He has looked more athletic this season with his pogo stick ability to double jump in the paint, keep fighting to disrupt drivers, absorb contact, and poke the ball away from drivers.

Through five games, he is averaging a stock (steals + blocks) per game to go along with 4.8 rebounds a night with almost two deflections per game. If he can continue this level of defensive impact, once the Thunder get back All-Defensive swingman Jalen Williams (and Chet Holmgren, who missed this Kings game), it will be jarring how much better the Thunder's bench scorer is.

On the offensive end, it was mostly business as usual. Wiggins scored 18 points on 4-for-10 from beyond the arc and 46% from the floor. However, he did a great job using this game to not only stay in attack mode but also set up Sacramento.

After consistently driving downhill, the Kings turned their attack in the paint to the Maryland product driving the lane, which let him dump off passes behind the defense for easy buckets for a laboring (at times) Thunder offense.

If Wiggins can continue to stack complete games on both ends, he rounds himself out as a player and someone who can not be trimmed out of Mark Daigneault's rotation come playoff time. That is a big if, we are working off a small sample size, but encouraging none the less.