Game 5 of the NBA Finals saw Warriors center Andrew Wiggins emerge as the hero for his team against the Celtics. He filled the void left behind by Steph Curry's off-night, providing significant contributions on both ends of the court.
Wiggins contributed to the Warriors' 104-94 victory over the Celtics in the Chase Center on Monday by pouring in 26 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
Additionally, he played stifling defense on Boston forward Jayson Tatum, even though he still scored 27 points in the loss despite being selected to the first-team All-NBA.
On Twitter, a 2012 tweet from Tatum began circulating after Wiggins scored for the second time in a row. Celtics star Jabari Parker claimed Wiggins was better than Jabari Parker in a tweet from when he was 14 years old.
As high school students at the time, Parker and Wiggins were among the top recruits in the class of 2013, even though they were still in high school at the time.
While Parker attended Duke University, he earned a consensus first-team All-American honor as a freshman, whereas Wiggins was named to the Big 12 first-team as a freshman.
As a result of their competitiveness, both forwards went on to become the best two picks in the 2014 NBA draft, with Wiggins going as the top pick to the Timberwolves and Parker getting the top pick to the Bucks.
The two achieved individual success during the early phases of their professional careers but struggled to lead their teams to consistent success.
Tatum's tweets have led to divergent careers for the two players since then. The Warriors' Andrew Wiggins has reinvented himself as the second most important player on a Finals team after Parker. Parker was without a team for most of the last two seasons.
Even though the evidence might have leaned in Tatum's favor at the time, it's difficult to fault him for a tweet from 10 years ago. Tatum may now regret his old words since Wiggins is helping the Warriors beat the Celtics on the biggest stage in basketball.
For more stories like this
Explore our website