Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor wants assurances from Andrew Wiggins that he’s committed to the franchise and determined to improve his game before giving the high-scoring forward a max extension, according to Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press.
Taylor wants to receive those pledges in a face-to-face meeting with Wiggins, who averaged 23.6 PPG last season.
Wiggins is still working on his rookie contract and the exact amount of an extension is tied to the 2018/19 salary cap. Based on projections, a five-year, max extension for Wiggins would net him slightly under $148MM, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors recently detailed.
Wiggins’ name has popped up in trade rumors regarding Cavaliers disgruntled point guard Kyrie Irving but Taylor insists he won’t give up Wiggins in the team’s efforts to land the All-Star floor leader. The addition of All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler in a blockbuster deal with the Bulls this summer has made the Timberwolves a popular pick as the most improved team next season.
Wiggins can certainly find areas for improvement beyond his scoring average. His 35.6% shooting from long range last season was the best of his 3-year career but far from elite. He could also become a better rebounder (4.0 RPG last season), free throw shooter (76%) and defender, both man-to-man and in takeaways (1.0 SPG).
If Wiggins is maxed out, the Timberwolves will have five players on the current roster making at least $14MM for the 2018/19 season.
I would trade him for Kylie if I were them
Kyrie
Agreed. Irving, Butler and KAT would be pretty damn impressive.
I second that motion
Id rather have Kylie tbh
Wolves do not do it. if he was worth that Cleveland wouldn’t hesitate to give up kyrie for him.
Lol, umm so what’s he gonna do? Show up and say he doesn’t wanna work hard to improve? Everyone knows he doesn’t deserve the max so don’t give it to him.
He’s not currently a max player. Period. But neither is Otto Porter.
Give him the max, he has doen everything they have asked of him to this point. He has been our best offensive and defensive player since he has gotten here. He is likely to never be them again but that’s because KAT is better.
Because KAT is going to be better!
With Butler there, Wiggins gonna be more of just an average player at best. They won’t need him to run the offense and he can’t even shoot threes to space the floor and he can’t even really play defense. So he’s one of the worse 2 way players in the game today. The only good thing about him is his age and I just see very little improvement every year. Maybe that’s why They brought ok Butler so he can make up for the weak defense that Wiggins provides and can’t guard the other teams best guards.
He sounds a lot like a “poor man’s Melo”!
Man Wiggins is underrated by the hoopsrumors commenters and he is what 22?
Dude is 6’8″ top 5 athlete in league, can post up and draw fouls, drive and finish, and he 35% from 3 is better than Westbrook and plenty of other star max players. He does get burned on defense but anyone with his athleticism can be a great defender if they want to. They signed Jeff Teague so trading for Kyrie would make them small and that’s not the way the league is going, just look at the clippers in the playoffs for prime example of how length matters(insert joke)