Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 players facing the most pressure in 2018-19

1. Andrew Wiggins

Towns can weather a subpar season (relative to his standards), because his offensive numbers would still look impressive. Fellow former no. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins can’t say the same.

In 2017-18, Wiggins posted just a 7.6 player impact estimate (PIE); Kris Dunn, who struggled to get playing time in his rookie year under Tom Thibodeau and then was traded to the Chicago Bulls as part of the package for Jimmy Butler, posted a PIE of 9.5. Yikes.

Without Butler, Wiggins’ preseason has not been productive, to say the least:

In tune with such an atrocious stat line, Wiggins has been the least useful player in the league over his four preseason games (he won’t play in the final preseason game):

He has been so bad his name doesn’t even fit on that tweet’s preview–you need to click it to see Wiggins all the way at the bottom.

Now that his 5-year, $146.5 million max contract has started, Wiggins has a target on his back. He is a minus on defense, he has terrible shot selection and his lack of effort is so obvious at times that even Stephen Jackson, who has no ties to the Minnesota Timberwolves, called him out on it.

Wiggins, who’s expecting the birth of his first child any day now, is officially at a crossroads in his life. If he fails to make any improvements to his game this year, he’ll turn into both one of the worst contracts in the NBA and one of the biggest scapegoats in Minnesota sports history.

No pressure Maple Jordan.