Minnesota Timberwolves: What went wrong with Andrew Wiggins?

2018-2019

Last season, the woes continued for Minnesota fans. Wiggins’ stats did marginally improve, but his shooting is at the worst that it has ever been at just 41.2 percent. He’s awful from the line too, making just 69.9 percent of his free throws.

On the surface, when you look at Wiggins’ stats things don’t seem too bad. It’s when you dig a little deeper into the box that you find some major problems like this:

https://twitter.com/RealEthanBecker/status/1159509654629695490

This is a graph comparing where Wiggins ranked in the league in minutes per game put against where he ranked in total missed field goals. In a frustrating career-long trend, the more minutes Wiggins gets, the more shots he misses.

On the surface, you’d think that makes sense. More time means more chances to miss a shot. But the same analysis was run with LeBron James and Minnesota teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, and that’s not always what we saw. There were seasons where Towns played more minutes and missed fewer shots. It’s all in shot selection, and Wiggins just doesn’t have a good feel for his shot.

What’s more, in his five seasons Wiggins has placed in the top 20 in minutes per game four times, and top 20 in missed field goals all five times. In four seasons, Towns has placed in the top 20 in minutes per game twice and has never placed in the top 20 in total missed field goals.

After yet another season where Wiggins fell short of expectations, the Wolves looked to move him in the offseason, not once, but twice, and they couldn’t find anyone to take him. When was the last time a former #1 overall pick was having trouble finding a new home?

With Minnesota seemingly stuck with Wiggins until 2023, it’s about time to answer two questions: What happened to Wiggins? And what does Minnesota do from here?

The first answer is fairly simple. He lost his drive. Fans see him have these incredible games, most notably scoring 40 in then-interim head coach Ryan Saunder’s first game, so it’s not a skill problem. He’s not chronically injured. Last season was the first year he’s played under 80 game. He just doesn’t have the will to show everyone he deserves the contract that he’s on.

Finally, what does Minnesota do from here? Unfortunately, not much. Most general managers are hesitant on Wiggins for all the reasons listed above, and it would make no sense to just waive him since 18 points per game are better than nothing. So for now, Minnesota is stuck with one of the worst contracts in the league, attached to a player not performing at the level to deserve it.

If Wiggins doesn’t pick up his game soon, it could spell trouble for him down the road. Minnesota isn’t going to be too keen on bringing him back, and it’s going to be a hard bargain for any other team in free agency.

If Wiggins keeps playing at this level, there’s no way his NBA career will continue at the price he’s currently demanding, and if he is unwavering in his insistence to be paid that much, it may not go past 2023 at all.