Andrew Wiggins has been making headlines over the past few months for not having been on the Golden State Warriors’ active roster. He’s missed nearly 20 games for the defending champions as they are in the midst of defending their NBA title and it is relatively unknown as to why he’s not been playing.
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His Warriors teammates have supported him throughout this process, stating that ‘it’s bigger than basketball’ and how he can take his time to return to play whenever he chooses to. The only thing that is known about his situation is that it’s related to his family.
Prior to Wiggins making it to the Warriors and winning a championship, he was the Minnesota Timberwolves’ prized possession from the 2014 NBA Draft. He was selected 1st overall out of the University of Kansas and displayed shades of Kobe Bryant, even garnering praise from the Lakers legend himself.
Charles Barkley didn’t care to watch Andrew Wiggins highlights
Charles Barkley has always been one to be blunt about how he feels about a certain player or situation. Back in 2013 when he was asked about whether he had seen Andrew Wiggins coming out of high school, Chuck responded with an emphatic ‘no’.
“First of all, no. Why would I watch a high school player? That’s stupid. I’ve heard all the stuff. Ok, he’s a great high school player. Let me see what happens when he gets to college. I’m not going to project how great he’ll be. I mean, Kwame Brown was a great high school player,” said Barkley.
Barkley has kept true to this spirit of his as he would say during Bronny James’ freshman year at Sierra Canyon that they don’t need to be talking about a high school player. Shaquille O’Neal however, didn’t see a problem with doing so.
Wiggins didn’t quite live up to the hype of being ‘the next Kobe Bryant’ or ‘Maple Jordan’ but those were expectations that were placed onto him. He never declared to want to be those players. He’s turned his career around and become a potent offensive 3rd option while being a solid perimeter defender, integral to the Warriors winning their 4th title in 8 years.
