3 signs Andrew Wiggins is all the way back for the Warriors

The Golden State Warriors have been one of the big surprises during the first month of this 2024-25 NBA campaign, winning 12 of their first 16 games to sit atop the Western Conference standings heading into Monday night's matchup with the Brooklyn Nets.

While that success can be attributed to a number of factors, there's no denying the part Andrew Wiggins has played during the Warriors' sizzling start.

With Klay Thompson out of the picture, Steve Kerr had to find a new No. 2 scoring option in the starting lineup to support Steph Curry. Simply put, Kerr desperately needed Wiggins to get back to the form he displayed during Golden State's title run in 2021-22, a season in which the 2014 No. 1 overall pick earned his lone trip to the NBA All-Star Game.

It's no secret Wiggins has had his fair share of struggles over the last two years, some of which were undoubtedly due to the personal issues he had to deal with involving his now-late father. But the 11th-year veteran seems to have put everything behind him and is playing with renewed confidence and focus this season. And that's on both ends of the floor.

Here are a few ways Wiggins has shown he's all the way back.

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3. Andrew Wiggins has been much more aggressive on both ends of the floor

Anyone who has watched a Warriors game this season can clearly see that Wiggins has been far more aggressive than he has in the last couple of years.

Nobody's expecting the soon-to-be 30-year-old to be as explosive as he once was. And he honestly doesn't need to be, given how well he's shooting from the perimeter, which we'll circle back to shortly.

When Wiggins does attack the rim, however, he's doing so with authority. And defenses are struggling to stop him, which could be why he's attempting more free throws than he has in five years.

That aggressiveness applies to the defensive end as well.

In the Warriors' win over the New Orleans Pelicans this past Friday, Wiggins, who scored a game-high 30 points, spent a lot of his evening guarding Brandon Ingram. And while Ingram scored 18 points on the night, not all of which came against Wiggins, by the way, he needed 16 shot attempts to hit that number.

Overall, when Wiggins is the closest defender, opponents are making only 42.7 percent of their field-goal attempts. Of every player who's guarded at least 100 field-goal attempts this season, that's good for the 48th-lowest rate in the NBA.

Now, that may not sound all that great, but when that list includes 230 players, which puts him in the top 21 percent, it looks a lot better, doesn't it?

2. Andrew Wiggins is shooting the ball better than ever

Getting back to the offensive side of things, Wiggins is shooting the basketball better than he ever has.

Through his first 14 games, he's shooting 47.7 percent from the floor. If that pace holds, it would match the career-high he set during the 2020-21 season.

Coming into the year, Wiggins had never shot better than 40 percent from the three-point line. This year, however, he's hitting 40.8 percent of his shots from beyond the arc, which naturally forces defenders to cover him on the perimeter, thus opening up opportunities to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim.

As mentioned, Wiggins is shooting more free throws than he has in five years, and he's making the most of those opportunities, shooting a career-best 77.0 percent from the charity stripe. And he's hitting them in clutch situations.

Going back to Friday night's game against New Orleans, Wiggins hit four clutch foul shots in the final two minutes to help secure a four-point victory.

1. Consistency is key

One of the most significant issues the Warriors have had with Wiggins over the last two years is inconsistency, whether it be disappearing down the stretch of a single game after a strong start or simply not producing like the world knows he can on a day-to-day basis.

But he's been much improved in both areas this season, especially recently.

Not only is he getting clutch buckets down the stretch of games, he's in the midst of a stretch not seen in two years.

With 20 points against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, Wiggins has now scored at least 20 in each of his last four games, a feat he hasn't achieved since November 2022.

And from an overall standpoint, he's been ridiculously consistent shooting the ball during this four-game stretch, connecting on 57.6 percent of his field-goal attempts, 48.0 percent of his three-point attempts, and 86.4 percent of his foul shots.

If Wiggins keeps this up, not only will the Warriors continue to win games, but he might just earn that second trip to the All-Star Game.