Aaron Wiggins win NBA title, joins elite company among former Terps

Ahmed Ghafir
Jun 22
2 min read

Aaron Wiggins officially joins elite company in Maryland men’s basketball history after the Oklahoma City Thunder held off the Indiana Pacers in game seven on Sunday night.

Wiggins becomes the fourth Terp to win an NBA Championship after Tony Massenburg (Spurs, 2005), Keith Booth (Bulls, 1998) and Adrian Branch (Lakers, 1987). But on a team littered with young talent in addition to the newly tabbed MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Wiggins has carved a role in the Thunder rotation and loomed large during stretches in the postseason run.

Wiggins posted five games in double figures scoring, highlighted by his 21-point outing in the game on blowout vs. Memphis in the opening round, while his 18-point performance in the game two win marked the third-most points by a Terp in the NBA Finals. Wiggins also made three or more three pointers in five games during the championship run, averaging 5.9 points, two rebounds in 14 minutes during the finals while shooting 45.5% from three.

“He was huge tonight. 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,” head coach Mark Daigneault said after game two. “He was huge in the game four win at Denver and that series and he was massive tonight, went in there with great confidence, didn’t go until the second quarter and just dove right into the game. So just great professionalism, great readiness and just huge performance for us in that situation.”

Wiggins averaged 12 points in nearly 23 minutes per game during the regular season, shooting nearly 49% from the field and 38% from three.

Wiggins was a former 2nd round pick and 55th overall pick by the Thunder in the 2021 draft and is one of four Terps currently in the league alongside Kevin Huerter (Bulls), Jalen Smith (Bulls) and Jahmir Young (Bulls). He’s in year two of a five-year, $45 million contract with the Thunder holding a team option in 2028-29.

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