Aaron Wiggins Has Seen a Decrease in Volume Since His OKC Thunder Return

Oklahoma City is still a bit hampered by injuries with bumps and bruises, including Isaiah Hartenstein’s week-to-week diagnosis. As the team takes the floor on Sunday night, the injury report is lengthy, although many of those injuries are short term and just out of caution.

One player who will be available, though, is Aaron Wiggins. And Wiggins is a player who just recently returned from a three week absence — and his return was a welcomed sight for Oklahoma City. Jalen Williams finally returned to the lineup, too, but for the first few weeks of the season, it was Wiggins who picked up a lot of the slack when Williams was on the bench.

Wiggins has been one of the Thunder’s best bench scorers over the course of the rebuild, and came on incredibly strong last season with his first year averaging double digits. He took a huge leap in both production and volume with Williams out over the first two weeks of the season, though. Over the first seven games of the season, he averaged 14.2 points per game and gave the offense a huge boost.

He was playing with ultra confidence, too. He attempted double digit shot attempts in every game, and in his last game before injury he poured in 27 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Wiggins was then out of action from November 5th to November 30th — as he finally returned last week.

Wiggins has been efficient and rock solid in his return, there’s no doubt about it. In three games back, he has shot 11-of-20 from the floor. In a short sample size, his volume has decreased though. He hasn’t had one game with double digit shot attempts, and is averaging 9.0 points per game.

With Oklahoma City’s nightly injuries and willingness to be cautious with bumps and bruises, this Thunder offense is going to need him to take on a similar load that he did at the beginning of the season. Wiggins is clearly a great scorer, whether his output is on high volume or low volume. Because of that, this Thunder team will find more success when he shoots the ball more.

He’s likely feeling his game out and returning from injury slowly but surely. His minutes have been down, too, as Oklahoma City eased him back into action. But soon, it would be a good sign for the Thunder to see him back in a high-volume bench role. It gives the offense consistency and allows the reserves to build a lead when the stars hit the bench.