OKC's Aaron Wiggins: Underrated to Uncovered

Since Aaron Wiggins' Game 2 outbreak in the 2025 NBA Finals, he's gained a lot of national exposure. He gained even more, and definitely boosted local morale even higher in Oklahoma City following attaining the city's first NBA title, when he gave a pumped-up speech in the Paycom Center at a gathering for the Thunder's season ticket holders, staff, donors and many others.

It'd been a long time coming for a 55th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, one of the few players left on the team who'd endured the dog days of the short-lived rebuilding era for this Oklahoma City team—he stepped up whenever called upon as a rookie, and that's rang true even into a championship-winning squad in 2025. Wiggins grew with the team, and general manager Sam Presti and head coach Mark Daigneault allowed that and elevated him to the best of their abilities.

Now, an NBA champion, Wiggins still sits as one of the league's most underrated players in many people's books, and for good reason.

"He was locked in for one year at $2 million, so giving him an extra four years and $45 million on top of that seems pretty extreme for a fungible, fringe-rotation guy who is likely to get lapped by incoming draft picks," said The Athletic's John Hollinger during the summer of 2024.

This was an outright laughable take, especially looking back, noting Wiggins as a fringe-rotation player who's versatility and scoring capabilities led to significant contributions throughout a historic Oklahoma City season capped off with a championship.

Wiggins has never sought out the bait, though, he just wants to focus on his game and improve—and that was shown from day one when he stepped into Bricktown.

"Coming in, whether that be preseason or regular season, I was just ready for the opportunity to go out there and compete with the guys," Wiggins said following his first-ever NBA preseason contest during training camp media availability, where he notched 12 points on 80% shooting in just seven minutes of play.

That ability to compete with intensity and quality in a short amount of time is where he makes his money at. With the depth this Oklahoma City team holds now, he has to ensure he's providing quality minutes during the amount of time he has on the floor—which was just shy of 14 minutes per game this postseason.

But Wiggins has now established rapport, even beyond being the one who saved basketball. He's now recognized as a voice of this team, an integral piece of this Thunder culture—and it should've been widely realized for a while now.