Recently, the Jimmy Butler trade saga came to a conclusion when the Miami Heat dealt their disgruntled star to the Golden State Warriors for a package centered around Andrew Wiggins and draft compensation. The Heat are still waiting for Wiggins to make his team debut, but the players have to be relieved to be out from under the Butler-sized cloud that was hanging over the franchise this season.
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Recently, newly minted All-Star guard Tyler Herro spoke on what Wiggins will bring to the team.
“Wiggs is a basketball player, a champion, played at the highest level on multiple different teams. He knows how to play,” said Herro, per Zachary Weinberger of ClutchPoints. “… We’ll get him comfortable.”
What can Andrew Wiggins bring to the Heat?
As Tyler Herro alluded to, Andrew Wiggins has indeed played basketball at the highest level, helping the Golden State Warriors win the 2022 NBA championship with a great performance in the Finals, locking up Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum on one end of the court while providing an immense offensive boost on the other.
The last two years have been marred by injuries, personal absences, and a drop off in on court production for Wiggins, but he has started to pick things back up in 2024-25, making him a viable candidate for the Warriors to be the centerpiece of a Butler deal.
In theory, Wiggins sould fit right in with what the Miami Heat already want to do, which is defend at a high level and slow the game down to a more half-court style of play. At 29 years old (soon to be 30), Wiggins may not be quite as bouncy as he was when he first entered the league in 2014, but he still has enough athleticism left in the tank to give the Heat a new transition element to their game that was previously missing.
At the current juncture, the Heat sit with a perfectly average record of 25-25 nearly two thirds of the way into the season. Things won't get any easier from here, as Miami's next two games are against the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
