Warriors' Andrew Wiggins Is 'A Walking 20 Points', Says Joe Lacob

Warriors owner Joe Lacob only got to see Andrew Wiggins play 12 games with Golden State before the NBA went on hiatus, but he's still extremely encouraged by his latest acquisition. 

Speaking to The Athletic's Tim Kawakami on The TK Show podcast, Lacob said Wiggins reminds him of Harrison Barnes when the Warriors core was first beginning to emerge and that he feels lucky to have landed him.

"It's so hard to find wings right now in the NBA with good positional size and athleticism," Lacob said. "He's a walking 20 points. He's going to go out there and get you 20 points in any game. He's capable of doing a lot more than that, but that's pretty good." 

The Warriors sent a package centered around guard D'Angelo Russell to the Minnesota Timberwolves to acquire Wiggins and two draft picks at the NBA trade deadline. In what was already a lost season thanks to long-term injuries to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Wiggins offered a chance to change course a bit moving forward. 

A first-round draft pick out of Kansas in 2014, Wiggins never developed into the superstar many expected him to be with the T-Wolves, yet he never had much stability there aside from a blossoming big man in Karl-Anthony Towns. 

With Golden State, Wiggins will have a new opportunity to showcase his skills. At best he's a third option on offense when Curry and Thompson are healthy and given his knack for driving to the rim, that should bode well with his teammates all launching threes.

"We think it's a great fit, actually," Lacob said. "We've had some evidence here, and we didn't get to see him play with Steph and Klay, but we did see him play with the rest of our team and how he might fit.  Our coaching staff is very excited about Andrew and how he may fit here going forward."

In his 12 games with the Warriors, Wiggins averaged 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists while shooting 45.7 percent from the field. 

That's exactly the type of stat line that can make him extremely valuable when Golden State is at full strength and it's why Lacob is enthused over his franchise staying aggressive in a down year and going after him at the deadline.