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“Saved Basketball”: Aaron Wiggins’ Viral Meme Turns Into Reality as 25YO Starlet’s Assault on Mavs Leaves Fans in Awe

Published 05/08/2024, 12:20 AM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

Aaron Wiggins went viral again, this time for actually saving basketball. The 25-year-old OKC Thunder had already gone viral with a hilarious meme, taking a dig at him. While the fans online scratched their heads to find out the origin of the meme, Wiggins made it a reality with his explosive 16-point outing against the Dallas Mavericks. The star’s lethal 23-minute provided the Thunder an extra edge over Luka Doncic & Co. and fetched them a 95-117 win.

Following the game, fans swarmed the social media comments, hailing the star for making the meme into a reality. Basically, the meme involved a person thanking Wiggins for saving the basketball. In response, the Thunder star says, “I’m literally just Aaron Wiggins.” The meme made rounds in social media for a long time and found its purpose after tonight’s game.

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The OKC Thunder went off to a flying start to their postseason, kicking out the Pelicans with a 4-0 series win. Tonight, they faced their first challenge against the Mavs. Luka and Kyrie Irving had the game almost until the third quarter before the OKC turned up their heat. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren did what they do best, contributing 66 points from the starting lineup. However, Josh Giddy, who averaged around 12 points in the postseason, dropped only 2 points.

Luckily, Aaron Wiggins came off the bench to save the game, dropping 16 points with a 5-7 FG which also included 3 buckets from the perimeter. Notably, Wiggins had a silent first round against the Pelicans, where averaged 5.8 points with a high score of 6 points. On top of it, he has a 56.3% FG in his 15.1-minute stay per game, truly a lethal weapon off the bench.

Fans celebrate Aaron Wiggins, as he saves basketball

Asking back to the internet, no one really has an answer for the origin of the meme. Some section of the fans say, the title tagged along with the star since his college days. And, some said that it originated after the 2022-23 season when he started for the OKC in a brief stint. This season, he has averaged 16.5 points in 4 games, starting the game. However, the origin doesn’t really matter now, as Wiggins literally lived by the title given to him. And, the fans acknowledged it as well. Multiple users took their X handles and simply posted, “Aaron Wiggins saved basketball.”

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While certain fans only stuck to the meme, a few fans decided to take potshots at other ballers, comparing them with the ‘savior of basketball’. A fan wrote, “Aaron Wiggins has been everything the Mavs needed Josh Green to be tonight.” Mavs’ Josh Green also had a similar role to Wiggins. He also came off the bench, dropping 11 points in his 25-minute. Even though it wasn’t more than what Wiggins scored, it’s still a better number.

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While a fan took a dig at a player from the same game, another fan went out of the way to troll Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins. They wrote“Aaron Wiggins showing who the best Wiggins is in the NBA.” Taking the numbers into consideration, Andrew Wiggins had the worst season of his career, posing his lowest average of 13.2 points this season. On the other hand, Aaron Wiggins has dropped 6.9 points per game, coming off the bench. Wiggins really needs to pull up his socks for the next season.

Let us know your favorite Aaron Wiggins meme in the comments below.

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Written by:

Shahul Hameed

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Shahul Hameed is a Senior NBA Writer at EssentiallySports. Armed with a Master's Degree in journalism from a distinguished institute, his journey into sports writing began during his college days, and since then, Shahul has been captivated not only by the remarkable consistency of Stephen Curry but also by the enduring legacy of LeBron James. He specializes in covering the live basketball action.
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Edited by:

Shivatmika Manvi