What is the viral "Brother Long saved basketball"?

The substitute scored 18 points in 21 minutes and scored 5 three-pointers to help the Thunder win a goal! The fans exclaimed, Brother Long took action! The comment section also has the same style: "Simply save a basketball", "Brother Long is Brother Long"...

He is the number one scorer on the Thunder bench - Aaron Wiggins. Whenever Wiggins performs well, the "Brother Long saves basketball" meme will spread in the comment section like a virus.

What is this? Before solving the puzzle, it is necessary to get familiar with Wiggins, the protagonist of the "Meme".

Three-point shooting, Pacers, can attack and defend, and is a literary young man outside the field.

Wiggins is proficient in piano and trombone, can dance ballet, jazz and tap dance, and can act in drama. During his student days, Wiggins was the chief performer of the school band and an actor of the theater club. If the plot requires it, Wiggins can play and act again.

Wigkins' versatility comes from his parents' teachings, especially Serena, the mother who works as a high school teacher.

Serena requires all five children in her family to know at least two musical instruments, to be exposed to art and drama culture, and to participate in club activities more often. Doing this not only cultivates skills, but also makes you accustomed to showing yourself to many audiences. You won’t be nervous when you have the opportunity to step onto a bigger stage in your life in the future.

Wiggins has been energetic since childhood, studying, playing the piano, dancing and acting without delaying his sports.

Wiggins has been a three-star basketball, rugby and track and field since elementary school. When he joined Wesley Christian Academy, head coach Gatling said after seeing Wiggins' training that this child is the best scorer he has coached and will definitely be able to play in the NCAA Division I league and then become a professional player.

Wiggins was not the best player on the team at that time. He was a four-star high school student. There was a five-star high school student named Jaylen Hodder at Wesley Christian College. Many college coaches and scouts came to visit Hord, and Wiggins found it was an opportunity.

"Whoever comes to see Jaylen, I have to make sure they can see me, too," Wiggins said.

As Wiggins expected, the coaches who came to inspect Hord also discovered Wiggins, especially the University of Maryland assistant coach Telkin, who came to Wesley Christian College twice in the name of inspecting Hord. After careful observation, he decided to ask Wiggins.

"He is very comprehensive, he can attack, defend and grab the board, and he controls the ball and passes the ball. He plays very hard." Telkin commented on Wiggins this way.

Maryland head coach Turgenin also admired Wiggins and decided to start Wiggins, who had just joined the team, but to Turgenin's surprise, Wiggins found him to take the initiative to ask for a substitute, because Wiggins observed through the game that his playing substitute could allow the team to build an advantage during the lineup rotation.

After Wiggins' freshman season, Turgenin told him: "If you want to make the team better, you have to make progress in your sophomore year."

Wiggins started summer devil training, with the daily schedule being morning exercises mainly dribbling, morning and afternoon are routine training, then go to the gym to lift weights, and practice shooting at night. Such training intensity has improved Wiggins' overall strength.

An NBA executive who inspected Wiggins in his freshman season admitted that Wiggins, who was a rookie in college, was a single-dimensional player, mainly receiving and shooting. After completing summer special training, Wiggins was already a completely different player, and his abilities in all aspects have been improved, which is refreshing.

Although it has been recognized by some industry insiders, Wiggins' draft prospects are not clear. In 2021, when he signed up for the draft after the junior season, he didn't even get an invitation to the NBA rookie training camp and wanted to participate in the development league rookie training camp. He performed well in the camp and then got the ticket to the NBA Rookie Camp. On the day of the draft, Wiggins held a party with relatives and friends in his hometown at a restaurant in his hometown. He was originally expected to be selected at the top of the second round, but he was not picked by the Thunder until the 55th place in total.

Wiggins obtained a two-way contract from the Thunder. Players who hold such contracts usually have to play in the Development League. Wiggins is mentally prepared to be delegated, but the Thunder did not do so.

team general manager Presti watched Wiggins' training performance and determined that he belonged to the NBA and did not have to go to the Development League. Wiggins entered the Thunder rotation in his rookie year. After half of the season, Presty converted Wiggins' contract into a standard contract.

After playing for the Thunder for three years, Wiggins received a call from Presti, and the team offered him a five-year contract extension of 47 million yuan. When the call came, Wiggins was training with his parents, which made him a little confused.

"I'm super happy because from my career expectations when I left college, if you told me that you could sign a five-year contract in three seasons, I would think you were kidding," Wiggins said.

Photo with Holmgren

Wigkins played the best season of his career, averaging 12 points per game in the 2024-25 season, second only to the new version of Alexander, Jaylen and Holmgren in the Thunder, but after entering the playoffs, Wiggins' performance was erratic.

scored 21 points in the first round against the Grizzlies, and then scored single digits in four consecutive games. After entering the Western Conference Finals, the playing time was even more shattered. He was DNP in the fourth game and played only 8 minutes in the fifth game.

Wiggins only got less than 10 minutes of playing time in the first game of the finals. The Thunder encountered a dark goal. Head coach Dagnot gave Wiggins 21 minutes in the second game, and he handed over an 18-point answer to help the Thunder defend their home court.. After the game, Dagenot sighed: "He is so critical tonight. He is indelible for us to achieve good results this season. After entering the playoffs, his mission and role have been changing. He always persisted and went all out."

After this game, the slogan of "Brother Long Saves Basketball" resounded again on the basketball social media. This meme appeared during Wiggins' rookie season and spread rapidly on social media. In the Thunder team, it was frequently cited by teammates, and there were signs of human-to-human transmission.

"Aaron Wiggins Save Basketball", the original is Cody Burton, who was in his second year of high school at the time.

Burton has been following the Thunder since the 2015-16 season. His favorite players are neither Durant nor Westbrook nor Wiggins, but Wiggins' teammate Dort. He created the LuDortBurner Twitter account and often shared Dort's game performance.

It is precisely because of his love for the Thunder and Doulter that Burton also pays attention to Doulter's teammate Wiggins. According to his own recollection, shortly after the Thunder selected Wiggins, one day when he was half asleep and half awake at home, he suddenly had an inspiration to create the emoticon package of "Aaron Wiggins Save Basketball". The initial version was Wiggins wearing a Maryland University jersey and screaming at the camera, and later changed to a Thunder jersey.

Long Ge saved basketball emoticons

Burton said that this emoticon was inspired by "Malvin Gonzalez saved baseball".

Gonzalez is a baseball player who has never been selected as an All-Star, but he is very hard-working and is an excellent all-rounder in the arena. Burton believes that Wiggins is the basketball version of Gonzalez, not a star but an important puzzle that a championship-level team cannot lack.

Burton himself did not expect that this emoji would become a classic meme. Even when the reporter chatted with Wiggins, he asked: "What training did you do to save basketball this summer?"

Wiggins was quite satisfied with this meme. Although he didn't know what "saving basketball" meant, it sounded like a superhero, and he expressed his gratitude to Burton in an interview.

In fact, Wiggins knows that he will not become an NBA superhero, but if he persists and finds a position and role that suits him, he can still succeed even if the starting point is not high.

"Don't think about the results, believe in the process. If you are calm and work hard on the road of life, there will be rewards in the end," Wiggins said.