Can OKC Thunder Get Late-Season Spark from Aaron Wiggins?

The Thunder could use some more juice from one of their top bench scorers.

Jan 19, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins (21) celebrates after hitting a three point basket against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second half at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Oklahoma City has one of the deepest teams in the league, and one of its reserves might be ready to break out in time for the postseason.

On Monday night, the Thunder completed a back-to-back with a 114-110 win over the Detroit Pistons. Now sitting at 60-16 with only six games to go, everything that happens the rest of the regular season will come with the playoffs in mind. 

Of course, that includes how the Thunder manage rotations. After seeing no action in Sunday’s win over the Knicks, Aaron Wiggins stepped back into the lineup on Monday and had a solid outing, putting up 10 points in 17 minutes.

With the Thunder back at full strength, Wiggins has been a DNP-CD in two of the past four games, but there’s still hope that he can be a contributor when it matters most. Last season, Wiggins’ final two months and change of the regular season featured a clear breakout, and there’s still a chance for him to have a mini-breakout to finish this year.

While Wiggins hasn’t always been in the regular rotation in recent weeks, Mark Daigneault pointed out the impact he and Kenrich Williams had in the biggest moments last season.

“It's funny,” Daigneault said. “I go back and watch playoff games from time to time, just to make sure that what we're talking about and what we're doing is scaling to the biggest moments. As I go back and watch some of the biggest games we played, those guys were squarely in the mix in those and could be in this year.”

While Williams was seldom a part of the playoff rotation, Wiggins was a key contributor throughout the Thunder’s title run, including two double-digit performances in the Finals. Obviously, the Thunder would love to have Wiggins get back to that form, and these next few games could go a long way in getting him on the right track.

Early in the season, Wiggins picked up where he left off in 2024-25, averaging 14.8 points across the first nine games before an adductor strain kept him out for nearly a month. While Wiggins has mostly been healthy since then, he hasn’t found that same rhythm or looked like his usual self.

There are still some flashes of his spot-up threes and putback dunks, but he must find some more consistency before Daigneault can fully trust him to have a regular role. Although it won’t be easy for Wiggins to get back to the top of his game, it could be a huge difference-maker in the playoffs.