Minnesota Timberwolves: What went wrong with Andrew Wiggins?

2017-2018

2017-18 seemed like it was going to be Wiggins’ year. During the offseason, Minnesota had acquired star talents Jimmy Butler and Jeff Teague and name Tom Thibodeau their head coach.

At the time, all of these additions excited fans. Teague was the point guard for the Atlanta Hawks and even made an All-Star appearance. Butler was an All-Star guard to round out a Big Three, and Thibodeau was thought to be able to bring a certain defensive edge that the Timberwolves had been lacking.

In October of 2017, the Timberwolves signed Wiggins to a five-year, $147 million max extension. Wiggins had held out on the Wolves for a few months before signing, and they most likely freaked out and threw the kitchen sink at him to keep him in Minnesota. Still, Wiggins had improved every year and looked to be on track to being a top player in the league. Everything seemed great. After signing the extension, Wiggins remarked:

"“I like everyone from the trainers to the coaches to the front office, my teammates…I love everybody. They’ve treated me with nothing but nice since I got here. And they were the first people who gave me the opportunity to play in the NBA after I got traded from Cleveland and they welcomed me with open arms so this is where I wanted to be at.”"

Then, the good luck train hit an inexplicable iceberg.

In March of 2018, numerous reports started to come out the Wiggins was unhappy as the Wolves third option behind Butler and Towns.

Not only that, but Wiggins’ numbers also took a huge hit. Just looking at his year-to-year stats, you’d think Wiggins had been injured for a large part of the 2017-18 season, dropping from 23.6 points per game to 17.7 points, 2.3 assists per game to 2.0. His shooting got worse too, dropping from 45.2 percent shooting to 43.8.

Then, you realize that Wiggins played all 82 games at an average of 36.3 minutes per game, the second-highest in his career. Wiggins was playing about three of the four quarters in a game, and he couldn’t even crack 20 points.

Wiggins would occasionally go off and record huge numbers, which was an asset to the Wolves. However, it still hurt them more than it helped because it was so rare that he recorded those big numbers. In just four years, Wiggins had gone from one of the brightest spots for the Timberwolves future to a player we were dreading having to spend the next five years with.