Former NBA guard Mitchell Wiggins dies at 64 years old

Former NBA guard Mitchell Wiggins died this week at 64 following an illness, his daughter Agney announced on social media, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.  The National Basketball Retired Players Association confirmed the news.

The No. 23 overall pick of the 1983 draft, Wiggins played for the Bulls, Rockets and Sixers during the course of his six NBA seasons, averaging 10.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 1.6 APG in 389 games (20.8 MPG). In 1987, he was banned from the league for two-plus seasons for testing positive for cocaine.

After his NBA career ended in 1991-92, Wiggins starred for teams in Greece. He also played in France and the Philippines outside of the United States.

Wiggins, who won a silver medal at the 1982 FIBA world championships with Team USA, met his future wife Marita Payne while the two attended Florida State. Payne-Wiggins won a pair of silver medals in sprinting for Canada at the 1984 Olympics. They had six children together, with their youngest son being Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 draft.

Andrew missed extended time during the past two seasons, particularly in 2022-23, for undisclosed personal reasons. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported in April 2023 that Andrew’s absence was due to Mitchell’s health.

We at Hoops Rumors send out condolences to Wiggins’ family and friends.