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Hawks land Thunder champion in trade
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Hawks have plucked away an experienced veteran from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

News broke on Sunday that the Thunder were trading guard Aaron Wiggins to the Atlanta Hawks. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the 2025 NBA champions are set to receive two second-round picks in return — the Hawks’ own 2030 pick and the least favorable of the Hawks and Lakers’ picks in 2032.

The deal is essentially a salary dump for the Thunder, who entered the offseason with an eye-popping $213 million luxury tax bill waiting for them should they have stood pat. Per salary cap maestro Bobby Marks, OKC’s tax figure will drop to $152 million once the deal is made official.

Wiggins is on a team-friendly deal that will pay him around $17.5 million guaranteed over the next two seasons, with an $8.35 million team option for the 2028-29 campaign.

The 6’5″ swingman played a key role off the bench for the Thunder in each of the last two seasons. During OKC’s championship year in 2024-25, Wiggins averaged 12.0 points and 3.9 rebounds on 48.8 percent shooting from the field and 38.3 percent from beyond the arc while playing nearly 23 minutes per game.

While his minutes remained last season, Wiggins’ performance took a slight hit. He averaged 9.4 points on a 43.1 percent shooting clip and a mediocre 35.6 percent from deep. With the emergence of Ajay Mitchell and the trade for Jared McCain this season, Wiggins became expendable for OKC.

The Hawks are banking on Wiggins to shine with a bigger role in Atlanta.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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