Wigginton, Weiler-Babb to play in NBA Summer League
Chris Jorgensen/Iowa State Daily
Iowa State’s Lindell Wigginton (left) and Nick Weiler-Babb (right) both will be participating in the NBA Summer League after going undrafted in the 2019 NBA Draft.
June 23, 2019
Two former Iowa State basketball players have agreed to suit up for NBA Summer League teams after not hearing their names called in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Lindell Wigginton has agreed to play for the Toronto Raptors, per HoopsHype’s Alex Kennedy and Nick Weiler-Babb will be playing for the Miami Heat, per ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.
Both players will join teamates Marial Shayok and Talen-Horton Tucker, who were drafted in the second round, in the Summer League.
While Weiler-Babb had exhausted his eligibility, Wigginton went undrafted after only competing in two college basketball seasons and testing the NBA waters the year prior.
After his freshman year, Wigginton declared for the 2018 draft and earned an invite to the combine but ultimately decided to return back to Iowa State.
Wigginton averaged 16.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists in his first year as a Cyclone while also shooting 41.4% from the floor and 40.1% from three. He was also a All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.
One of the biggest knocks on Wigginton was his lack of playmaking (2.6 assists) and his height of 6 feet, 2 inches. At the professional level, Wigginton figured to be more of an undersized score-first guard.
In his second year as a Cyclone, Wigginton had a nearly identical stat line, while averaging 13.5 points, four rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 41.5% from the floor and 39% from long range.
Wigginton was also no longer a starter for the Cyclones but was the primary scorer off the bench and earned the Big 12 Sixth Man Award and his second All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection.
While Wigginton’s statistics from the 2018-19 season remained nearly identical as the previous year, Weiler-Babb’s degressed while being more involved shooting in the offense.
Weiler-Babb averaged an impressive 11.3 points, seven rebounds and 6.8 assists his redshirt junior year, but 9.1 points, five rebounds and four assists as a redshirt senior. He shot 44.7% from the floor (32.3% from three) his redshirt junior year and 40.2% from the floor (35.6% from three) in his last season.
One explanation for the dip in production is an increase in ball handlers on the roster such as Tyrese Haliburton, Horton-Tucker and Shayok.
Weiler-Babb also doubled the amount of three-pointers he attempted with 44.7% of his shots being threes in his last year. The previous year, only 32.9% of his shots were threes.
Unlike Wigginton, Weiler-Babb has great size for a guard at 6 feet, 5 inches tall and has shown the ability to be a playmaker, as he averaged 6.8 assists as a junior, but he does struggle shooting the ball from long range with a career 34% three-point shooting percentage at Iowa State.
While they may have more of an up-hill climb to make an NBA roster as undrafted free agents, both Weiler-Babb and Wigginton will be able to prove they belong on a professional roster in the U.S. or overseas.