Minnesota Vikings draft pick Ade Aruna is already somewhat acquainted with another famous Minnesota athlete.
The Tulane defensive end, who was picked by the Vikings in the sixth round of the NFL Draft on Saturday (No. 218 overall), told a funny story to reporters about playing Timberwolves star Andrew Wiggins in high school basketball.
Aruna bragged about beating Wiggins “pretty bad,” saying that the former No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft scored just 11 points in the game and only six with Aruna guarding him, per Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
New Vikings DE Ade Aruna said he guarded Andrew Wiggins in a basketball game in high school, and "we beat him pretty bad." Aruna said Wiggins scored 11 points — and made it clear that only six of those points were when he was guarding him.
— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingStrib) April 28, 2018
The 24-year-old Aruna also noted that he used to play “old school,” 80s style basketball in high school, via Andrew Krammer, also of the Star Tribune.
#Vikings DE Ade Aruna recalled defending Andrew Wiggins while playing HS basketball in La Porte, Ind.: "I played what is called the old school. I don't know if you watched in the 80s? That's how I played my basketball."
Says he was held to 11 points.
— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) April 28, 2018
Since then of course, Wiggins went on to become a McDonalds’ All-American, consensus second-team All-American in college, No. 1 overall pick, and NBA Rookie of the Year who is now averaging 20 points per game for his career on a $146 million contract with the Timberwolves. Aruna obviously has a long way to go to live up to those accolades in his sport, but hopefully he will at least have a better shoe game than Wiggins.
