- Programming Note: Watch "Warriors Now" with Dalton Johnson and Zena Keita at 1 p.m. PT today, streaming live on the NBC Sports app. Watch the show later on YouTube and Facebook.
MIAMI – The spotlight found Andrew Wiggins at a young age because of his supreme basketball talent. Everything that comes with that isn’t what Wiggins asked for.
Wiggins is a man of few words. Not in a rude or standoffish way, but in a respectful manner. It’s who he is. Private and to himself, always extending his big smile Warriors fans fell in love with at the perfect time.
As Wiggins prepares to play the Warriors for the first time since being traded to the Miami Heat on Feb. 6 for Jimmy Butler, he doesn’t have a long answer of reflection. He knows how he feels about his five-plus seasons with the Warriors and vice versa. Wiggins didn’t want to leave the Warriors, and a line of people within the organization fought for him to stay.
That’s how the business goes sometimes. That also doesn’t change the love Wiggins still has for the Warriors. Those feelings, as cliché as they sound, never will go away from either side.
“I had a great time there,” Wiggins said to NBC Sports Bay Area in an exclusive interview Tuesday morning, hours before the Heat play the Warriors at Kaseya Center. “I love and appreciate everybody. Great fans. My teammates were great, the coaching staff was great. The city, meeting new people and building new relationships. I had a great time.
“Great time. Great time with the organization.”
Golden State Warriors
He won Rookie of the Year in 2015. He has been an All-Star, and a key player to a championship team. The path first laid out for Wiggins after being the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft also never was a straight line to success from the start.
Twists and turns were placed upon him without his doing. Rumors swirled that his bags would be packed before even being selected with the first pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers after it was announced LeBron James was coming home. Wiggins couldn’t settle in and call Cleveland home.
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Minnesota became home two months later for the first five-plus years of Wiggins’ career. Then came the Warriors calling, making what at the time was seen as a risky move, and what wound up becoming a heist to the highest order. Finally, the Toronto native felt home.
Wiggins doesn’t remember many details from the trade that sent him to the Warriors on Feb. 6, 2020. Five years later, he’s happy with where he landed if he had to be sent packing once again.
“Any trade in mid-season is tough,” Wiggins says. “You don’t want to get traded mid-season. But I’m happy I landed here. It’s a great spot. Great city, great organization, great organization all around.”
Wiggins scored 25 points his final game as a Warrior, and then tallied a combined 24 points his first two games with the Heat before starting to get in a groove with his new team. Between a leg injury and an illness, Wiggins has missed eight of the 21 possible Heat games he could have played.
But in the 13 games he has played, Wiggins is averaging 21 points for the Heat on 48 percent shooting and 36.3 percent on 3-pointers. His last two games have been his best, scoring 72 total points while going 26 of 34 from the field (76.5 percent), 8 of 12 from deep (66.7 percent) and 12 of 16 on free throws (75 percent).
“They’re very detailed here,” Wiggins says. “Very detailed. And I feel situated, getting more and more comfortable on the court with every game. I feel like they just want to get the most out of me.”
The last two coaches Wiggins has played for, Steve Kerr with the Warriors and now Erik Spoelstra for the Heat, are “legends in the world of basketball,” as he puts it. Kerr and Spoelstra deeply respect one another and surely exchanged messages about Butler and Wiggins after the trade. Among the contingent of people who vouched for Wiggins to not be involved in a trade, Kerr was at, or near, the top of the list.
Kerr loved coaching Wiggins. A humanitarian first and a basketball coach second, Kerr has been waiting to see Wiggins’ smile in person Tuesday night. Well, as long as Wiggins doesn’t go off for 42 points against the Warriors like he did Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets to snap the Heat’s 10-game losing streak.
"We're all thrilled to see Wiggs,” Kerr said Monday after Warriors practice. “Wiggs is one of my favorite guys. I wish we still had Miami in the Bay, so that will have to wait until next year. Wiggs will get an enormous standing ovation when he returns to the Bay in front of our fans, both for his contributions and just for his humanity – who he is, what kind of person he is. He's beloved in our locker room and throughout the Bay.
"It'll be great to him, and hopefully he doesn't have 42 against us."
The Warriors stood by Wiggins through highs and lows. They rewarded him with a new contract after the 2022 championship, which in retrospect was a very team-friendly deal and showed how both sides felt about each other. They gave him the space to make his decision regarding getting vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic. When he had to tend to family matters during two straight seasons because of his late father’s health, the Warriors didn’t blink in telling Wiggins to do what’s best for him.
Countless friendships were formed, and they’re not going away. Wiggins says he still has stayed connected with some former Warriors teammates and coaches the best he can. The business part of sports is cruel and heartless. Navigating it all can be an obstacle course of friendly fire neither side wants.
The Warriors, then, now and forever, will be a special part of Wiggins’ story and will hold a warm spot in his heart.
“It’ll be good to see those guys,” Wiggins said. “It’s all love. I love those guys. I had a great time over there. Great people, great organization. Obviously we have a competitive game to play, but I’m looking forward to it.”
