Since the merger of the ABA and NBA, only two No. 1 Draft Picks have ever been traded before playing a single game, and that’s Chris Webber in 1993 and Andrew Wiggins. The latter is a Canadian basketball player who plays in the NBA for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Since his teenage years, he has always attracted the attention of the scouts, which he endured until the NBA draft in 2014.
Andrew Wiggins Biography, Age
The NBA star was born as Andrew Christian Wiggins on February 23, 1995, in Canada, Toronto, Ontario. There he grew up at the side of two brothers and three sisters. Andrew grew up in a family with athletic parents, and even as a small child, he was attracted to sports. By the time he was 9 years old, he had already started competitive basketball thanks to his good height of 5 feet 7 inches.
While his father is American, his mother is from Barbados, but grew up mainly in Canada.
He received his education at Vaughan Secondary School before moving to Huntington Prep School in Huntington. Before deciding to attend Kansas State, he had the opportunity to attend other colleges, including Florida State, Kentucky, and North Carolina.
With an excellent college career, he announced his availability for the 2014 NBA Draft. As expected, he made it as the draft’s first choice after being selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers. This made him only the second Canadian basketball player to be selected as the first candidate for the NBA Draft after Anthony Bennett.
Andrew Wiggins was later traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves alongside Bennett and Thaddeus Young for Kevin Love. He made his NBA debut with 6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 assist in 18 minutes in a game that ended in a defeat to the Memphis Grizzlys.
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Since then he has been playing for the team and was named NBA Rookie of the Year in 2015 when he was also named NBA All-Rookie First Team and MVP of the NBA Rising Stars Challenge.
Before he made his professional start in the NBA, his best year was 2013 when he was named MR. Basketball USA, Gatorade National Player of the Year, Naismith Prep Player of the Year, as well as being named McDonald’s All-American and Parade All-American First Team.
Wiggins also played for the Canadian men’s basketball team. He was first invited to the FIBA U17 World Cup in 2010, which ended with the bronze medal. The team would win the same medal at the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship and the 2015 FIBA AmeriCup.
Family, Brother
As mentioned earlier, Andrew Wiggins came from a family of athletes with a father, Mitchell Wiggins, who played in the NBA for teams such as the Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets. His mother, Marita Payne-Wiggins, was a track and field athlete who held the Canadian record for 200 meters and still holds the Canadian record for 400 meters.
Interestingly, Andrew is not the only member of his family who plays basketball. His older brother, Nick Wiggins, also plays and was even signed to Timberwolves before he was given up. Previously, Nick played for Wichita State University, and after he was not drafted in the 2014 NBA draft, he joined the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL) and played for Orangeville A.
His oldest brother, Mitchell Jr., also loves and plays basketball. During his time at Southeastern University, he was considered the best basketball player.
His Girlfriend
The Minnesota Timberwolves striker has also had good experiences off the pitch, especially in his relationship with Mychal Johnson, with whom he has been working since 2013. In the second half of 2018, it was reported that the basketball player and his girlfriend were not only expecting a child but were also engaged and may soon walk down the aisle.
Apart from Mychal Johnson, Andrew Wiggins was also involved with Alex Reid before the two ended the relationship. She is a singer and songwriter.
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Height and Weight
Wiggins is a man of good height and a rather athletic physique. To get his height from his parents, he stood at 1.5 m 7 inches when he was 9 years old, and by the time he was 13 years old, he was already 1.5 m 6 inches tall. Currently, he is 1.80 m tall and has a body weight of 92 kg (202 lb).