Andrew Wiggins deserves the NBA's version of this award
Stephen H. Provost
Andrew Wiggins probably isn’t the stupidest man alive, but he may qualify for basketball’s version of the Darwin Award because he’s on the verge of removing himself from the NBA gene pool.
Wiggins has refused to get the COVID-19 shot while playing in a city that won’t allow players to take the floor (or even be inside Chase Center) if they’re unvaccinated.
Andrew Wiggins is not LeBron James, although there was a time when some had that kind of expectation for him. He’s a former No. 1 draft pick who has turned out not to be a superstar, but a serviceable journeyman.
He was given the chance, with the Golden State Warriors, to finally live up to those initial expectations, and he took some steps in that direction last season. This year, he has the chance to maximize his value by playing alongside scoring champ Stephen Curry and finally healthy 3-and-D icon Klay Thompson. This could give him maximum exposure and an opportunity to play himself into a great contract when he’s up for free agency in a couple of years.
But as the third-highest-paid player on the Warriors at $31 million a year, he’s already drastically overpaid. He’s probably worth half that. And he’s not worth anything if he doesn’t get on the floor.
His salary is already an albatross for the Dubs, and if he’s unvaccinated, it’s more like an anvil.
Unless he gets vaccinated quickly, teams aren’t going to want to touch him, and the Warriors would do well to trade him ASAP. If they can.
Dubs will be fine
But this situation of his own making is going to weigh him down far more than the team. Make no mistake: The Dubs will do just fine without him. Juan Toscano-Anderson emerged as a surprisingly good option at small forward last year, and the Warriors added Otto Porter Jr. to their roster in the offseason, plus they picked up a raw force of nature named Kuminga in the draft.
Golden State has plenty of talent and depth at small forward. They don’t need Wiggins. His absence will give Jonathan Kuminga time to develop and perhaps take his place in the starting lineup permanently.
Then where will he be?
On the bench, that’s where.
The Warriors don’t need Wiggins. He needs them. So, what does he do? He refuses to take the vaccine, ensuring he won’t be able to play any home games for the Dubs, who have nine of their first 12 games in San Francisco.
He’s exposing himself to a dangerous illness AND hurting his career at the same time. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Both of those birds, however, are named Andrew Wiggins.
Freedom to be stupid
Maybe he should ask Isaiah Thomas what being off the court did to his hopes for a max deal. Thomas didn’t have a choice in the matter: He was injured. Wiggins does have a choice.
And he says he has a RIGHT to choose. “I make my own decisions,” Wiggins has said. Maybe so. He also has a right to take a header off the Golden Gate Bridge if he chooses, but that doesn’t mean it’s the smart thing to do.
Fighting for your right to make your own decisions is fine. Fighting for your right to make stupid decisions is, well, stupid. It’s a waste of energy for one thing, and if you win that fight, there will be consequences to your stupidity.
Personally, I don’t care what Wiggins does. If he comes to his senses and gets the vaccine, which seems unlikely at this point, he will add another option for an increasingly deep Warriors team. If he doesn’t, he’s expendable.
With his salary, he was probably never going to be more than a bridge to the future for the Dubs anyway. And with Thompson back by December, James Wiseman likely to recover from his injury by then, too, and the likes of Toscano-Anderson, Kuminga, Porter, and Nemanja Bjelica on the roster now, that future is now.
Wiggins’ future is becoming extinct before his eyes, and the saddest part is that he’s doing it to himself.
Bring on that Darwin Award.
Stephen H. Provost is the author of several books on sports and current events. Check them out on Amazon.