Andrew Wiggins

Lore & Background

Wiggins grew up in Canada before attending his last two years of high school in the United States, where he was named a McDonald's All-American. At Kansas, he was named a second-team consensus All-American before becoming the second Canadian to be selected No. 1 overall in an NBA draft. After a preseason trade to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Wiggins earned NBA Rookie of the Year honors for the 2014–15 season. After five-and-a-half seasons with Minnesota, he was traded to Golden State in 2020. In 2022, Wiggins won his first NBA championship and was selected for his first NBA All-Star game, and was named a Western Conference starter. He has also been a member of the Canadian national team.

Reader's Guide

Wiggins was born in Toronto, Ontario and raised in the nearby Vaughan portion of Thornhill, Ontario. He is the son of former NBA player Mitchell Wiggins, an American, and former Olympic track and field sprinter Marita Payne-Wiggins, a Canadian who is originally from Barbados. His parents met as student athletes at Florida State University. He attended elementary school at Glen Shields Public School, and high school at Vaughan Secondary School. Wiggins began playing organized basketball when he was nine, joining an under-10 team in Toronto. He dunked a basketball for the first time when he was 13, and a year later, he grew to and shattered a glass backboard after dunking on a rim at the Dufferin Clark Community Centre in Vaughan. He attended Vaughan Secondary School for his first two years of high school, then transferred to Huntington Prep School in Huntington, West Virginia. He was named the 2013 Naismith Prep Player of the Year, the 2013 Gatorade National Player of the Year, and Mr. Basketball USA. He committed to Kansas on May 14, 2013. In his freshman year at Kansas, he averaged 17.1 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game, and made 34.1% of his three-point field goals. He declared for the 2014 NBA draft on March 31, 2014, and was selected first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. On August 23, a three-team trade was completed involving the Cavaliers, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Philadelphia 76ers, sending Wiggins and Anthony Bennett to the Timberwolves. Wiggins earned NBA Rookie of the Year for the 2014–15 season. He signed a five-year, $148 million contract extension with the Timberwolves on October 11, 2017. After five-and-a-half seasons with Minnesota, he was traded to Golden State in 2020.

Did You Know?

• Wiggins scored 57 points in a high school game after a Sports Illustrated article criticized his work ethic.
• He became the first Canadian-born player to score 40-plus points in an NBA game.