Andrew Wiggins' agent claims viral photo shows Wiggins with top vertical in 2014 draft
On Thursday, while most of the rest of the 2014 draft class was in Chicago for the NBA's pre-draft combine, Andrew Wiggins was working out in Santa Barbara, CA, at the P3 Sport Science club.
It's not abnormal for a pick with Wiggins' draft prospects to sit out the combine, as there's little he could do to improve his standing beyond "likely number one pick." That didn't stop him from waking waves when a picture of his vertical jump surfaced online.
That is obviously an incredible jump, but it's tough to tell just how impressive it is without context.
On Friday, his draft class peers had their own vertical jumps measured, with Jahii Carson and Markel Brown topping the list with 43.5-inch leaps. Those are amazing scores, tying for the fifth-highest in recorded combine history.
And then the agent for Wiggins dropped a "well, actually..." on everyone:
The picture of Andrew Wiggins vert jump floating around? His agent, Bill Duffy, told me it's a 44 inch vert.
— Chad Ford (@chadfordinsider) May 16, 2014
Now, this raises the skepticism in us. Why, when the picture surfaced Thursday, did his agent wait until after all of the other scores were recorded to reveal how high Wiggins' jump was?
We don't doubt for a second that Wiggins is one of the best athletes in the draft, but it seems a little too convenient that he beat the top score by half an inch (posting what would be the fourth-best mark ever, no less), and that score was released once everyone else was done.
Maybe it's true, though. It probably is. But there's only one way to prove it: leap-off.