Mitchell Lee Wiggins (September 28, 1959 – September 9, 2024) was an American professional basketball player who was a

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA).

College career

He played collegiately at

Truett-McConnell College Truett McConnell University is a private Baptist college in Cleveland, Georgia. It is operated under the auspices of the Georgia Baptist Convention and controlled by a board of trustees elected by the convention. It was named to honor Georg ...

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

and

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. Wiggins averaged 23 points and nine rebounds per game during his two seasons at Florida State.

Professional career

Chicago Bulls (1983–1984)

Wiggins was selected by the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

as the 23rd overall pick of the 1983 NBA draft and traded to the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

for Sidney Lowe and a 2nd round pick. In his rookie year, Wiggins played in all 82

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

games while averaging twelve points, four rebounds and two assists per game.

Houston Rockets (1984–1987, 1989–1990)

In the 1984 off-season, the Bulls traded Wiggins with draft picks to the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

for Caldwell Jones. He mostly came off the bench behind John Lucas and Lewis Lloyd. In 1987, Lloyd and Wiggins tested positive for

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

, incurring a two-and-a-half-year suspension from the league. Both Wiggins and Lloyd were reinstated for the 1989–90 season. Wiggins appeared in 66 games and averaged 15.5 points per game but was criticized by his coach, Don Chaney, for his defense. His playing time decreased after Houston traded for Vernon Maxwell.

Philadelphia 76ers (1991–1992)

After Wiggins became a free agent, no team expressed an interest in Wiggins outside the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

. They had intended to sign Wiggins to their roster in November 1990, but backed out when he refused to take a complete physical including a drug test. Wiggins did not play the 1990–91 season, but the 76ers kept in touch with him and signed him to a one-year contract the following year. The 1991–92 season was Wiggins' last in the NBA. He scored 3,877 points in his NBA career.

Greek League, CSP Limoges, Tondeña 65 Rhummasters, and minor leagues (1993–2003)

Wiggins then went to Europe and had a notable career in the Greek League playing for Milon Nea Smyrni, Sporting Athens, and Panionios Nea Smyrni. He also appeared for CSP Limoges in the French League, the Tondeña 65 Rhummasters in the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

, and several minor league teams in the United States.

National team career

Wiggins played for the US national basketball team at the

1982 FIBA World Championship The 1982 FIBA World Championship was the 9th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Colombia from 15 to 28 August 1982. Qualification Venues Competin ...

, winning the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

Coaching career

In the 2000s Wiggins tried coaching in the lower leagues.

Personal life

Wiggins' wife, Marita Payne-Wiggins, competed for Canada in

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, winning two silver medals. Since 2002, their family has resided in

Vaughan, Ontario Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increa ...

, Canada.Dodd, Rustin
KU's Andrew Wiggins followed Naismith's path to Lawrence
''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

''. Accessed on March 22, 2014. Wiggins' youngest son,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, was selected first overall in the 2014 NBA draft by the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

. Wiggins' oldest son, Mitchell Jr., played for Southeastern University and his middle son Nicholas Wiggins plays professionally. Both Mitchell Jr. and Nick were drafted by the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

in 2014. Wiggins also has three daughters: Stephanie, Angelica, and Taya. Wiggins died on September 9, 2024, at the age of 64.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

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Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

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, 32 , , 19 , , 24.6 , , .437 , , .000 , , .754 , , 4.2 , , 2.4 , , 1.4 , , .1 , , 11.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 66 , , 52 , , 28.1 , , .488 , , .000 , , .810 , , 4.3 , , 1.6 , , 1.3 , , .0 , , 15.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

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Playoffs

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1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...