Surprise! Andrew Wigginsis headed to the NBA…
Okay, okay. So maybe that's not exactly a surprise. After all, Wiggins has been widely projected to be a top-3 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft this summer. But a short time ago, the Kansas star made things official by holding a press conference alongside his Jayhawks head coach Bill Self and his family to announce his intention to forgo the rest of his college eligibility in order to enter the NBA.
"I decided that I'm going to enter the draft," he said. "It wasn't an easy decision because the fans showed me so much love here. I wish I had more time. College goes by so fast."
And you know what? Good for him. Even though the expectations that were placed upon him prior to and during his freshman year at Kansas were ridiculously high (please stop comparing him to LeBron James!), Wiggins proved time and time again that he's ready to make the leap from college to the NBA. He averaged 17.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game during the season. He had some of his biggest games against some of his toughest opponents (22 points against Duke on November 12, 26 points against Florida on December 10, and 29 points against Iowa State on January 29). And he passed just about everyone's eye test, which is to say that he looked like an NBA player playing against college kids during most games (especially towards the end of the season, the Stanford NCAA Tournament game notwithstanding). So him exiting the college ranks for the NBA is really a no-brainer.
If you're still not convinced that Wiggins is making the right move, though, we've gathered a collection of 10 GIFs that prove he's ready for the league. If your favorite NBA team winds up with this guy on your roster in three months, you're in good hands for the next decade.
GIF #1: Last summer, before the 2013-14 season even started, Wiggins threw down this dunk during a scrimmage. Notice how Cole Aldridge wanted no parts of it.
GIF #2: Now this is how you finish off Duke during one of your first nationally-televised games.
GIF #3: Yes, this was against Pittsburg State. No, that doesn't make it any less impressive.
GIF #4: There are one…no, two…no, make that three guys who could have stopped Wiggins here. And yet, he made this look so easy.
GIF #5: From waaaaaaay downtown!
GIF #6: You know how coaches are always telling players to "stay with their shot." Um, yeah. This is the epitome of that.
GIF #7: Wiggins still has a ways to go defensively. But he's proved that he's willing to work on playing solid D.
GIF #8: Wiggins put 41 points up against West Virginia. But none of his buckets were more electric than this.
GIF #9: Okay, we lied. This one was pretty awesome, too.
GIF #10: This is one of the last alley-oops Wiggins caught in college. But it's far from the last time we'll see him do this.
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