NBA Twitter Praises Andrew Wiggins as Warriors' '2nd Best Player' in Win vs. Heat

Coming off an ugly loss Tuesday to the Phoenix Suns, the Golden State Warriors got back on track with a 123-110 victory over the Miami Heat at Chase Center on Thursday.

Stephen Curry had a vintage performance with 33 points on 13-of-22 shooting and nine assists in 37 minutes. Klay Thompson, fresh off his first career ejection in Tuesday's game, is still trying to find his form after going 6-of-19 from the field.

One early-season trend that continued against the Heat was Andrew Wiggins playing at a high level, as the 27-year-old had his first double-double of the 2022-23 campaign with 18 points and 10 rebounds. He also had the best individual plus-minus mark in the game (+17).

Wiggins' performance Thursday and through the first five games of the season has prompted fans and analysts on NBA Twitter to hype him as Golden State's second-best player after Curry:

The Warriors signed Wiggins to a four-year, $109 million contract extension on Oct. 15, but it was immediately overshadowed by Jordan Poole's new deal announced the following day (four years, $140 million).

Poole certainly figures to be a big part of Golden State's future because of his age (23) and offensive upside, but he has to get better on defense to become a star-level player.

Wiggins established himself defensively last season, particularly in the NBA Finals when he was matched up against Jayson Tatum. Further, Wiggins is averaging 7.0 rebounds per game in five starts this season; his highest single-season rebound average coming into the year was 5.1 per game in 2019-20.

On top of all that, Wiggins is averaging 20.2 points per game on 36.4 percent three-point shooting.

As the Warriors wait for Thompson, Poole and Draymond Green to hit their stride, Wiggins' emergence makes his new contract look like an even bigger bargain than it did when it was announced.