After a stellar finish to his Maryland men’s basketball career, Aaron Wiggins has a new team.
The 6-foot-6 guard was drafted No. 55 overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the NBA Draft Thursday night. He was the only Terp selected across 60 picks.
This is the fourth straight year Maryland had a player chosen in the draft. Last year, Jalen Smith was selected No. 10 overall by the Phoenix Suns.
Wiggins saw his stock rise tremendously after a stellar junior campaign in which he averaged 14.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field. He helped drive a five-game winning streak in February that pushed the Terps off the bubble and into the NCAA tournament.
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And the Greensboro, North Carolina, native excelled in the postseason. He dropped 14 points in a win over UConn before turning in his best performance in a Maryland jersey with a career-high 27 points in a loss to Alabama.
That wound up as his last game for the Terps, as the All-Big Ten Honorable Mention declared for the draft shortly after. Wiggins initially left open the possibility of returning to College Park for his senior season, but he kept his name in the draft after a strong showing at the G League Elite Camp and NBA Combine.
Now, Wiggins is with the rebuilding Thunder. There, he’ll have to work his way up the depth chart, much like he did at Maryland.
And if he finds success like he did with the Terps, this moment could be the start of a long career.
