{"id":701397,"date":"2026-04-06T13:40:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T13:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701397\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T13:40:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T13:40:33","slug":"thunder-waiting-on-perfect-aaron-wiggins-replacement-to-make-nba-draft-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701397\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder waiting on perfect Aaron Wiggins replacement to make NBA Draft decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though a major bench piece on their championship roster just a season ago, Aaron Wiggins has begun to fade out <\/a>of the OKC Thunder rotation here in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

The veteran has been logging painfully inconsistent minutes here in the club’s title defense tour.<\/p>\n

Most recently, he only found himself playing against the Lakers once OKC was up by 30 points late in the third quarter, and managed to total just eight minutes of action against the lowly Jazz on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Sadly, a parting of ways may soon be on the horizon for Wiggins and the Thunder, though, fortunately for Sam Presti and company, Santa Clara freshman Allen Graves could prove to be a seamless replacement option for him waiting in this June’s NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

That is, of course, if he ever actually declares for the 2026 class.<\/p>\n

Allen Graves’s offensive efficiency makes him an easy fit for Thunder<\/p>\n

On offense, Graves is a textbook stretch four. He shoots over 40.0 percent from behind the arc, with 100 percent of his threes coming off of assists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many of these shots are coming from his ability to find open space during a pick-and-pop or to exploit an open space against zone for an easy catch-and-shoot opportunity.<\/p>\n

Along with his stellar shooting talent, he is an interior force.<\/p>\n

Graves averages 2.8 offensive rebounds a game, utilizing his wingspan and strong hands. Additionally, he has a solid post game, having an array of hook shots and floaters at his disposal.<\/p>\n

His paint presence on offense is much needed, especially when Isaiah Hartenstein is on the bench. With the big man riding the pine, the Thunder’s offensive rebound percentage drops nearly 10 percentage points<\/a>. Also, as a team, despite their 93rd-percentile efficiency<\/a>, OKC averages the fourth-fewest post-up possessions in the league.<\/p>\n

To put his impressive offensive game all together, he rarely makes mistakes. Graves had only 25 turnovers all season, with a turnover percentage of 6.9 percent. This aligns well with the Thunder being among the lowest-turnover teams in the NBA.<\/p>\n

With Wiggins’ lack of care with the ball an issue this year, and a turnover percentage of 12.5 percent, the roster change would make a substantial difference to the bench.<\/p>\n

Though Graves’ offensive game differs from Wiggins’, with much less on-ball work and fewer drives, his fit would be easy for OKC. He would immediately get easy looks from three with playmakers like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams always giving kickout passes.<\/p>\n

Defensive playmaking and aggression headlines Graves’ exciting play<\/p>\n

Graves’ two-way abilities at his size truly separate him from his peers projected around him in the coming draft. <\/p>\n

He was fifth in the nation<\/a> in steal percentage in 2026 at 4.9 percent. His aggression in the passing lanes and strength to strip the ball consistently stand out. The relentlessness to make a play on the defensive end is sometimes too extreme for Graves, though, as he tallied over three fouls a game. <\/p>\n

His shot-blocking is also impressive, as he is a reliable secondary rim protector, averaging nearly a block per game. With these shot-blocking skills and an overall ubiquity on defense, he could pair very well with Chet Holmgren or Isaiah Hartenstein.<\/p>\n

Wiggins’ defense, meanwhile, has been extremely unreliable, either due to a lack of effort or his inability to keep up with athletic players. If Graves can replace this lackluster defense with his exhilarating, big plays, the Thunder defense will somehow become even scarier.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Aaron Wiggins, Allen Graves’ two-way efficiency is far better for the OKC Thunder than his staggered shot-making and defense. If Graves does decide to declare for the 2026 Draft and OKC selects him, the reigning champs will add much-needed elements to the team on an incredibly cost-effective deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though a major bench piece on their championship roster just a season ago, Aaron Wiggins has begun to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-701397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-oklahoma","11":"tag-oklahoma-city","12":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","13":"tag-oklahomacity","14":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","15":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116358049843333849","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}