Wiggins still gets up for the chance to duel with James. Good thing, too. Golden State will need Wiggins to be at his best to climb out of a 3-1 hole against the Lakers, beginning with Wednesday’s Game 5.
Andrew Wiggins still relishes going head-to-head with LeBron James. Nearly a decade past his career-beginning trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers, though, it’s not because Wiggins is clinging to any resentment toward James. The Golden State Warriors wing just always appreciates the opportunity to battle with the best.
Barely two weeks after Cleveland took Wiggins with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 draft, James announced his earth-shaking return to Northeast Ohio in a letter penned at Sports Illustrated. What young, foundational piece of the Cavs score did James not mention alongside Kyrie Irving? Wiggins, fueling rampant speculation about him possibly headlining a trade for another star that finally came a few weeks later.
As the Warriors battle the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals, Wiggins harbors no ill will for James and the thinly veiled role he played in that blockbuster trade to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“It’s the business side of basketball. You can’t have any hard feelings toward anything,” he said, per Mark Medina of SportsNaut. “People get traded all the time. At the end of the day, they have a ring and I have a ring. It worked out.”
The rings Wiggins is referencing? The one James earned with the Cavs in historic fashion over the 73-win Dubs in 2016, and the jewelry Wiggins helped Golden State take home just last season.
Go figure.
With their season on the line in Game 5, it's exactly the wrong time for the Warriors to give up on Jordan Poole.https://t.co/l6q0DAIlkA
— Warriors Nation (@WarriorNationCP) May 9, 2023
“It’s fun and competitive. Every time you face someone like that, it’s a big game,” Wiggins told Sportsnaut. “I’m just trying to be the aggressor. He’s LeBron, but I try to make him as uncomfortable as I can.”
Source: https:/clutchpoints.com
