Erik Spoelstra’s Andrew Wiggins on How Miami Could Be ‘Better’

MIAMI – Like The Miami Heat got a much-needed win over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, 142-116, marking the team’s second straight win after a big slump, there were plenty of contributions in the absence of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Hero. With Adebayo is set to return to the Heat for Monday’s match against the Denver Nuggets, the team will still need some of the same elements that led to the previous two wins, with Andrew Wiggins as one of them.

Without Adebayo and Hero, Wiggins was one of many who stepped up to take on the bulk of the work as he led the team with 28 points, shooting an efficient 12-of-16 clip from the field, making all four of his three-point attempts. He also had a good performance Friday in a win over the Atlanta Hawks, where he had 18 points and eight rebounds.

With six rebounds, three assists and three steals, Wiggins was undoubtedly more “assertive” and aggressive on Saturday, an aspect that Miami’s head coach Erik Spoelstra would say makes Miami a “a better basketball team.”

“Yeah, both nights. He was really good. That’s a good word, tenacious on both ends of the court,” Spoelstra said. “It’s just fun to see him compete at that level. He’s got the gift of being able to make tough looks look easy, the contests, the blocks, the multiple efforts he’s able to do defensively in the zone, those are not easy things.”

“And then he really got going offensively, and he did it from all sides, you know, put his head down, got us in transition, you know, made some mid-range, some threes,” Spoelstra continued. “But he was just, you know, very hardworking, and we’re a better basketball team when he has that mindset; it might not lead to this kind of stat line, but that mindset is really important to our team.”

Erik Spoelstra on how huge Andrew Wiggins has been in the last few games without Bam Adebayo and Tyler Hero:

“He has a gift for making the difficult look easy. . . . He’s been very hardworking. We’re a better team when he has that mindset . . .” #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/L4DvkiuTEO

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) December 28, 2025

Heat is Andrew Wiggins on what the best version of yourself looks like

Doc Wiggins was one of the Heat’s unsung heroesWith Adebayo, Hero or even Norman Powell considered the best options for the team, the former Golden State Warrior was the perfect complementary option. While he can score 28 points on a night like Saturday, he will always be a player who provides Miami’s elite defense and offensive threat.

However, there’s no denying that when Wiggins is aggressive, the team becomes more dangerous, the 30-year-old said team told him the same thing. So far this season, Wiggins is averaging 16.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from deep.

“They just told me, you know, aggressive me is the best version of me,” Wiggins said. “So, you know, I just have to stay with it. And, you know, I do it all the time.”

He asked Andrew Wiggins about contributing in a huge way and if there were any talks about him stepping up. He says that it was not and how the team focuses more collectively.

In another video, he would say that the team tells him that an aggressive Wiggins is the best version. #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/ZiV7MIu6U3

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) December 28, 2025

While it makes sense that Wiggins would be one of the players who could shoulder more of the burden without Adebayo and Hero, the flow of the game still found him with the ball as he made the most of his opportunities. Wiggins would tell ClutchPoints that there was no talk leading up to the release that he would play a huge role.

“No talks. When we go out there, we’re just trying to do it collectively,” Wiggins said. “And everybody’s looking out for each other, trying to play with tempo, stopping. And you know, when we do that, you know, everybody’s eating.”

Either way, Wiggins appears to remain Miami’s standout player with a 17-15 team looking to make it three straight when the Nuggets visit on Monday.