OKLAHOMA CITY — Toughest job in the NBA?
Stopping a downhill dunk by Giannis Antetokounmpo? Sharing a locker room with Russell Westbrook? Playing year after year for the Charlotte Hornets?
Nope, nope, nope. At least says Jalen Williams.
The Thunder star figures the toughest job in the NBA is reporting to the arena for the biggest game of your life, not even sure you’re going to play, and playing lights out.
That’s exactly what the Thunder’s Aaron Wiggins did Sunday night, and Williams says don’t ever take that for granted.
NBA Finals Pacers Thunder Basketball (copy)
Indiana Pacers forward James Johnson (16) defends against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins (21) during the second half of Game 2 of the NBA Finals basketball series Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (Julio Cortez/Pool Photo via AP) Julio Cortez, Associated Press
Wiggins was superb Sunday in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. A virtual must-win for the Thunder, and win it did, 123-107 over Indiana in a game in which Wiggins teamed with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to ignite the second-quarter domination that made this game a laugher.
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As the playoffs deepen, Wiggins’ minutes have grown more and more sporadic. He didn’t even play in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. Played just 9:25 in Game 1 against Indiana.
Then Wiggins played 20½ minutes Sunday night, during which the Thunder outscored Indiana by 24 points. Wiggins scored 18 points, made five of eight 3-point shots, and gave the Pacers one more headache to deal with as the series shifts to Indianapolis for Game 3 Wednesday night.
“It's the hardest job in the league, I feel like,” Williams said of Wiggins’ in-and-out relationship with big minutes. “That goes underrated. It's really hard to stay engaged and stay ready. For him to be able to do that on the biggest stage he's ever played on and have a really good game, very special player.”
Wiggins shrugs it off. He points out that in his four Thunder seasons, “all my minutes have been up and down. Not a big adjustment. Not an adjustment at all. Whatever it takes to win is what I’m ready to do.”
What it took in Game 2 was a 19-2 runaway, fueled by Wiggins and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Wiggins scored eight points in the second quarter, after the Thunder scored just 21 points in the first 11 minutes of the game.
The second-quarter explosion created a 23-point lead, and the lead stayed between 13 and 23 the rest of the night. And of all the adjustments bantered about since Game 1, more Aaron Wiggins was on no one’s bingo card.
“He was huge tonight,” Mark Daigneault said. “I give him a lot of credit, because he was a huge part of our success this season, and in the playoffs, his role has been variant night to night. But he hangs in there … great professionalism, great readiness and a huge performance for us in that situation.”
Think about it. A player who averaged 22.9 minutes and 12.0 points a game, had become a lesser part of the rotation. In 16 playoff games, Wiggins had averaged 13.3 minutes and 5.9 points. And those figures were padded by garbage time in routs of Memphis Game 1, Denver Game 7, Minnesota Game 3, all routs and all the highest minutes for Wiggins this postseason.
By all accounts, Wiggins has handled his lesser role with aplomb. That doesn’t mean he has to like it.
“Obviously you're not going to like the downside to low minutes or not playing consistently a lot every night,” Wiggins said. “But it's the NBA. There's a lot of highs and lows. There's a lot of other guys going through similar things and guys who have just kind of earned their rights.
“Understanding that I'm still blessed to be in the NBA and do what I love. At this level, you can't take it for granted. Just continuing to stay ready and take advantage of the opportunities I get.”
Wiggins was a self-described “late bloomer” out of Greensboro, Maryland, who went to Maryland and became a good player but not a star. The Thunder drafted Wiggins in the second round of the 2021 NBA Draft, and he’s consistently made himself more valuable to the Thunder, as a 6-foot-4 wing who can score in bunches when he gets hot.
That’s what happened Sunday night. He made two 3-pointers in a seven-possession span that jumped OKC’s lead from 35-27 to 50-29. Then Wiggins made two more 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to insure the Pacers would have no chance at another vaunted comeback, like they produced in Game 1.
“Yeah, it was cool,” Wiggins said. “Just tried to go out there, contribute to the team, help put us in a position to win. Got hot. The guys kept finding me, so just stuck with it.
“Win-first mentality for me. Not thinking about how many points I'm going to score or what it looks like. I just want to go out there and play, more than anything. If I score zero points but I get 15 rebounds and I'm playing 20 minutes, I'm happy. Not itching to have a big game by any means. Just trying to help the team win.”
Wiggins is not one of the Thunder’s defensive dobermans. The emergence of Cason Wallace and the addition of Alex Caruso have pushed Wiggins down the Thunder depth chart. If Daigneault tightens his bench, Wiggins will be the odd man out.
And he knows it.
Yet Wiggins still arrived at Paycom Center ready to play Sunday night, and when Daigneault issued his summons, Wiggins was ready. In both halves.
“Big-time,” sailed Gilgeous-Alexander. “It's impressive to me. He's been exactly who he's been all year throughout the playoffs. Like, sometimes it's 20 minutes, sometimes two minutes, sometimes he gets 10. It's all over the place. No matter what, he finds a way to impact winning for us.
“For him to rise to the occasion and just be who he's been in the biggest moment of his basketball career is pretty gutsy. Says a lot about the competitor and the man he is. Hats off to Wigs.”
That’s a nickname not even recognized by basketball-reference.com, the Bible of the sport, which lists multiple nicknames for most ballplayers. Maybe Andrew Wiggins has dibs on Wigs.
But no matter. Andrew Wiggins has had his moment in the spotlight (2022 NBA Finals). Sunday night was Aaron Wiggins’ turn, when he took on the hardest job in the NBA and did it quite well.
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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