Andrew Wiggins

Community Shootaround: Andrew Wiggins’ Future

August 2nd, 2017 at 11:21am CST by Luke Adams

With all of this year’s top free agents off the board, the focus of the NBA rumor mill has shifted to trade candidates and extension candidates. Former No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins certainly falls under the latter category, and it’s not unreasonable to include him in the former category as well.

As a former first-round pick entering the final season of his four-year rookie contract, Wiggins is eligible to sign a contract extension, and the Timberwolves have reportedly been discussing the prospect of a five-year, maximum salary deal. At the same time, the new-look Wolves have been linked to Kyrie Irving, who has asked the Cavaliers to trade him, and Wiggins appears to be the most logical trade chip Minnesota could include in an offer for Irving. However, the Wolves have thus far been unwilling to make Wiggins available in any Irving proposal.

As I discussed at length when I profiled Wiggins as an extension candidate last month, the 22-year-old can score at an elite level, but has yet to round out his game in other areas — he was a below-average defender, rebounder, and distributor last season. He’s young enough and talented enough on offense that it’s easy to make a case for a maximum-salary investment, but it’d still be a bit of a gamble.

In an in-depth piece of his own, Tom Ziller of SBNation.com makes the case today that the Wolves should be in no rush to lock up Wiggins to a max extension. In Ziller’s view, it makes sense for the club to be patient, giving Wiggins another year to develop and perhaps even allowing for more potential trade opportunities to arise. If the young forward takes another step forward, the Wolves could still sign him to a max deal next summer as a restricted free agent.

That argument is a fair one, though waiting on a new deal for Wiggins isn’t without potential downside either. This year’s top free agent, Gordon Hayward, is case study in the risks of letting a potential star reach restricted free agency after his rookie contract. The Jazz could have locked up Hayward with a five-year extension entering the final year of his rookie deal, but the club instead let him reach restricted free agency, where the Hornets signed him to a four-year offer sheet that included an opt-out after year three.

The Jazz matched that offer sheet and retained Hayward, but instead of having him locked up for five years, the team only had him for three, plus an option year. That allowed Hayward to opt out after three seasons and reach the open market this summer, at which point he signed with a new team. If the Jazz had signed him to a five-year extension when they had a chance, he’d still be under contract with Utah for two more years. The Wolves will have to consider that scenario if they decide to let Wiggins reach free agency.

What do you think? Should Wiggins and the Timberwolves get an extension done as soon as possible? Is he worth a maximum-salary investment? Should Minnesota wait until he becomes a restricted free agent to act? Or is trading him in a deal for Irving the most logical move for the Wolves?

Jump into the comments section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Wolves Not Offering Wiggins For Kyrie, Focused On Extension

August 1st, 2017 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Details of the Timberwolves’ reported offer for Kyrie Irving aren’t known, but Andrew Wiggins isn’t part of Minnesota’s proposal, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). Wolfson adds that for the Wolves to have a real shot at acquiring Irving, their offer would need to include Wiggins “and more.”

The No. 1 overall pick in 2014, Wiggins was initially drafted by the Cavaliers before being sent to Minnesota for Kevin Love, and Sam Amico of Amico Hoops hears that the fourth-year forward wouldn’t be opposed to a return to Cleveland.

However, according to Wolfson (Twitter link), the Cavs would want “something of substance” in addition to Wiggins if they were to send Irving to the Wolves. A deal between the two sides isn’t at all close, and given Minnesota’s reluctance to offer Wiggins – let alone additional pieces – it looks like a long shot at this point.

Assuming Wiggins remains in Minnesota, as expected, there’s a good chance he and the Wolves end up working out a contract extension this offseason. Owner Glen Taylor confirmed over the weekend that the team is discussing a five-year max deal with its young forward, and Wolfson has another update today from Taylor.

According to the Wolves’ owner (Twitter link), Minnesota has formally put an extension offer on the table for Wiggins, whose agent is due to be in town later this month. In the case of a five-year, maximum salary deal, not a lot of negotiating is required, so it sounds as if the two sides have a chance to get something done within the next few weeks.

Wolves, Andrew Wiggins Discussing Five-Year, Max Extension

July 29th, 2017 at 5:27pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Wolves are working on signing Andrew Wiggins to a five-year, maximum salary extension, Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune reports. However, Hartman cautions that those talks are in the early stages at this point.

“First of all, I think he likes it here, we like him, he can get the very best contract from me, better than he can get from anyone else,” Owner Glen Taylor said. “I don’t think we have any trouble of offering him the max anyway.”

Taylor added that the team plans on extending Wiggins this offseason and doing the same with Karl-Anthony Towns next summer.

“We are talking to [Wiggins’] agent right now about extending him out another five years, so we can do that,” Taylor said. “Karl, we won’t do that until next year. Wiggins, we want to sign him to a long-term contract, we want to keep him here, and we’re negotiating with his agent. But we just started that negotiation, and we have quite some time to get that done.”

Taylor believes the negotiations should be harmonious since Wiggins will get the maximum amount possible under the new CBA. “We’re not really negotiating anything like that [money],” Taylor said. “There shouldn’t be any problem.”

The exact monetary amount of the extension won’t be known until next offseason when the 2018/19 salary cap details are calculated. Based on projections, a five-year, max extension for Wiggins would net him slightly under $148MM, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors recently shared.

Andrew Wiggins Seeking Max Extension

July 28th, 2017 at 9:56am CST by Luke Adams

As expected, Andrew Wiggins is seeking a maximum salary contract extension in negotiations with the Timberwolves. Speaking to Ben Golliver of SI.com, Wiggins said he’s taking a “day by day” approach to contract talks. Asked if he believes he’s worth the max though, the former No. 1 overall pick replied, “I definitely do. Nothing less.”

Based on current salary cap projections for the 2018/19 season, Wiggins would be eligible to earn up to nearly $148MM on a five-year extension that would run through the 2022/23 campaign. The two sides are reportedly engaged in discussions on a potential deal, though as I noted last Friday when I examined Wiggins’ case for a new deal, it’s not clear if the Wolves have been willing to put that five-year max on the table.

Wiggins’ case for a max extension is an interesting one. He’s still just 22 years old, and is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 23.6 PPG. However, the fourth-year forward has been somewhat one-dimensional so far in his career — his defense has been uninspiring, and he doesn’t rebound or distribute the ball particularly well. He was also an unreliable outside shooter before upping his 3PT% to a more impressive .356 in 2016/17.

Nonetheless, given his scoring ability and his overall potential, Wiggins would almost certainly attract at least one maximum offer in restricted free agency in 2018. If he’s not willing to accept less than the max, the Wolves may have to decide whether it’s worth rolling the dice on the 22-year-old’s upside sooner rather than later, locking him up for as long as possible rather than risking another team giving him an offer sheet in 2018 that allows him to reach unrestricted free agency early.

Amidst Wiggins’ extension discussions, rumors of the Timberwolves’ interest in Kyrie Irving continue to swirl, and there’s a belief that it would be difficult for Minnesota to get a deal done without including Wiggins in its package. So far though, there has been no indication whether the Wolves are willing to include him in their offer, or how that would affect extension talks.

Northwest Notes: Westbrook, Wiggins, Irving, Nuggets

July 27th, 2017 at 3:26pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nearly a month has passed since the Thunder offered an extension to Russell Westbrook, writes Fred Katz of The Norman Transcript. Oklahoma City is hoping the reigning MVP will agree to extend his current contract by five years in a deal that would start with the 2018/19 season. Westbrook is eligible to receive 35% of the salary cap — currently projected at $102MM for that season — along with 8% raises each year. The deadline to accept the offer is October 16, the day before the regular season begins. Katz says the organization remains “cautiously optimistic” that Westbrook will agree to the extension.

There’s more news from the Northwest Division:

Extension talks continued this morning between the Timberwolves and Andrew Wiggins, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. Wolfson doesn’t believe Minnesota would include Wiggins in a trade offer for Kyrie Irving.
Former Nuggets forward Mike Miller thinks Irving would be a good fit in Denver, relays Ashish Mathur of Amicohoops. In an appearance Wednesday on Altitude Radio, Miller, who spent a year with Irving in Cleveland, said the point guard is “definitely interested” in being traded to the Nuggets. “I’ve already asked that question,” Miller said. “… I think he will. I really do. Like anything else, when people look at cities, Denver’s an unbelievable city we all know that. And with what the organization has built there, he would be crazy not to and he’s definitely, definitely interested in it and I told him by putting this thing out there he has no choice.” Mathur speculates that Denver would have to offer Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Wilson Chandler and a draft pick to make the deal work.
Unless they can pull off a trade, the Nuggets are looking at only “minor tweaks” before the season starts, writes Christopher Dempsey of NBA.com. Denver’s roster is virtually filled with not much cap space remaining. Dempsey adds that the team achieved its top offseason priority of signing Paul Millsap.

Trade Between Cavs, Knicks Appears Increasingly Unlikely

July 26th, 2017 at 1:31pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have been mentioned all offseason as a possible landing spot for Carmelo Anthony, and within the last few days, the Knicks were named among Kyrie Irving‘s preferred destinations. However, a trade between the Cavs and Knicks increasingly appears to be a long shot, according to reports.

As Ian Begley of ESPN writes, Anthony’s top choice continues to be the Rockets, and the star forward still expects the Knicks to find a way to get him at Houston. It’s possible Carmelo’s stance will change at some point, but he wields a no-trade clause and appears intent on waiving it for the Rockets rather than the Cavs, particularly if he wouldn’t have the opportunity to play with Irving in Cleveland.

According to Begley, the Knicks have no interest in including Kristaps Porzingis in any trade for Irving, so they’d likely need to include Anthony in a hypothetical Irving deal with the Cavs. Not having Carmelo’s approval is, of course, a major roadblock. But even with his go-ahead, it’s not clear if the two teams would be able to reach an agreement.

Begley suggests that some members of the Knicks’ front office would be willing to trade Anthony and multiple first-round picks for Irving, but the organization is not in full agreement on the idea of giving up multiple first-rounders in any trade.

Conversely, Sam Amico of AmicoHoops hears that the Cavs would be unwilling to move Irving for only Anthony and draft picks. Sources tell Amico that the Cavs may be removing themselves from the Carmelo sweepstakes in the wake of Irving’s trade request, since their trade objectives – and possibilities – have changed.

Even if the Knicks aren’t a viable trade partner for the Cavaliers, Cleveland should have no shortage of options for an Irving deal. Amico reports that at least seven teams have made “serious inquiries” on Irving, and Cleveland is making every effort to grant the point guard’s trade request. However, the Cavs are also in no rush to get something done, as they attempt to sniff out the best possible deal.

The Timberwolves are one of those teams exploring a possible Kyrie trade with “incredible seriousness,” says Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (via Twitter). However, Krawczynski remains unsure whether Minnesota would be open to including Andrew Wiggins in an offer for Irving.

Latest On Kyrie Irving

July 22nd, 2017 at 5:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kyrie Irving‘s request to be traded is the latest story to rock the league during an eventful offseason. The news broke Friday, but Irving’s meeting with Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert took place about two weeks ago, according to Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com.

The Cavs tried to keep it quiet so they could work on a deal without the distractions that are starting to happen now. Apparently some players learned about the news and started talking, which is how the trade request became public.

Pluto also speculates that Irving’s demand validates rumors last month that former Bulls star Jimmy Butler was warned by Cavaliers players not to push for a trade to Cleveland. They have a close friendship, so Irving may have told Butler that he was planning to leave the team. Butler was subsequently traded to the Timberwolves, one of the teams Irving included on his list of preferred destinations, along with the Spurs, Knicks and Heat.

There’s more today on the Irving trade front:

The Wolves have a strong interest in acquiring Irving, even though they just signed former Pacers point guard Jeff Teague, Pluto adds in the same story. Pluto believes the Cavs should ask for Andrew Wiggins, whom the Cavs made the overall No. 1 draft pick in 2014, as part of the deal. Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns are untouchable, but Wiggins will be a free agent next summer if he doesn’t sign an extension before the October deadline.
The Knicks have offered Carmelo Anthony and a parcel of draft picks, adds Pluto, who says Cleveland should insist on Kristaps Porzingis. Other teams that have expressed interest include Sacramento, with rookie De’Aaron Fox as part of the offer, and Phoenix, with a package centered around Eric Bledsoe.
Pluto also notes that a trade would take away Irving’s opportunity to sign a super-max extension like the one John Wall just agreed to with the Wizards. The move could cost Irving between $50MM and $70MM.
Butler and Towns have done some recruiting work with Irving and have made it clear to Wolves management they would like to acquire him, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who first broke the story of Irving’s trade request. Windhorst believes Teague would likely be included in any Minnesota-Cleveland deal and notes that as a newly signed free agent he can’t be traded until December 15th.
The Spurs would be Irving’s first choice if he could pick a team, writes Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.
The Cavaliers had a deal on the table involving Irving before the draft, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. The trade was put together by former GM David Griffin, but the Cavaliers didn’t pull the trigger because they didn’t know that Irving wanted to leave.

Extension Candidate: Andrew Wiggins

July 21st, 2017 at 8:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Three weeks into the 2017/18 NBA league year, no players eligible for rookie scale extensions have signed new deals. However, that doesn’t mean that none of those fourth-year players are engaged in negotiations with their respective teams.

Timberwolves head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau confirmed this week that Minnesota is indeed working on a new contract for Andrew Wiggins, who is one of those 21 players eligible for a rookie scale extension. The No. 1 overall pick from the 2014 draft and a former Rookie of the Year, Wiggins has easily been the highest-scoring player of his draft class since entering the NBA, and is one of the most worthy candidates for a new deal.

While Wiggins is a good bet to sign a contract extension with Minnesota this offseason, the length and overall value of that new deal remain up in the air. Reports this week from The Star Tribune and ESPN rightly note that Wiggins is eligible for a five-year extension worth just shy of $148MM, based on current salary cap projections for the 2018/19 season. However, it’s not clear if Thibodeau himself confirmed that a five-year deal is the probable outcome.

Neither the Star Tribune nor the ESPN report cites any sources saying that the two sides are discussing a five-year deal, and there are no quotes from Thibodeau suggesting as much. ESPN’s report doesn’t even include a byline. Still, while it’s possible that it’s just speculation, the Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda is very plugged in on the Wolves, so if he suggests a five-year extension is in play, it’s certainly been considered by the organization.

If a team wants to sign a player entering the final year of his rookie contract to a five-year extension, that means making him a “Designated Player” and offering him a maximum salary deal. There’s some wiggle room in regard to what constitutes a “maximum” salary for Wiggins — language could be included in the contract that ensures he receives a max worth up to 30% of the cap starting in 2018/19 if he makes an All-NBA team, as opposed to 25% if he doesn’t. But even if Wiggins doesn’t earn All-NBA honors, a max deal would still start at a projected $25.5MM in ’18/19, increasing by 8% annually up to $33.66MM by 2022/23.

That would be a massive investment for a Timberwolves team that also has to consider Karl-Anthony Towns‘ impending payday. And while it’s possible that the franchise will ultimately be willing to roll the dice on that sort of five-year max for Wiggins, I don’t think it’s a lock.

Star players who receive five-year maximum salary rookie scale extensions from their teams often complete those deals very quickly when the new league year gets underway. In recent offseasons, Kyrie Irving (2014), Anthony Davis (2015), and Damian Lillard (2015) all agreed to max extensions before the July moratorium came to an end. If a maximum salary offer is on the table, little negotiating is required, and those deals generally don’t take long to finalize.

Additionally, it’s worth considering that 2016’s rookie scale extension class didn’t include a single five-year, maximum salary deal. C.J. McCollum, Steven Adams, and Rudy Gobert were among the candidates for max extensions who ended up accepting a little less. Most notably, Giannis Antetokounmpo signed a four-year, $100MM contract that fell short of the max. Antetokounmpo is only two months older than Wiggins and is a far more complete player at this point in his career, so the Wolves’ front office may use that deal as a point of comparison in negotiations with Wiggins.

Conversely, Wiggins’ camp should be able to make a pretty strong case that he’s worth a maximum salary investment. Few young players in the NBA are as talented on offense as Wiggins, who has increased his PPG from 16.9 to 20.7 to 23.6 over the course of his three NBA seasons. He even added a more reliable three-point shot to his arsenal in 2016/17, making a respectable 35.6% of his long-distance attempts.

Of course, as good as Wiggins is on offense, his performance in many other areas of the game has been lacking. In particular, his play on defense last season was frustrating — the Timberwolves’ defensive efficiency numbers with Wiggins on the court were substantially worse, and the eye test confirmed that the former No. 1 pick was getting beat far too often.

Additionally, while Wiggins is hardly expected to be the Wolves’ top distributor or rebounder, his lack of production in both areas was noticeable. No player in the NBA played more overall minutes last season than Wiggins, but his 4.0 RPG average was modest for a 6’8″ forward, and his career-high 2.3 APG average was also low for a player with the ball in his hands so often.

Although Wiggins has been a fairly one-dimensional player through the first three years of his career, his offensive ability and his age are both significant factors working in his favor. Even if he never develops into an above-average defender, he looks capable of averaging 25+ PPG, and there simply aren’t many players in the NBA who have the ability to score like that night in and night out.

Wiggins’ age, meanwhile, suggests that his best is yet to come, and a contract extension with the Wolves figures to cover many of his prime years. Wiggins’ new teammate Jimmy Butler serves as a tantalizing point of comparison for the 22-year-old. When he was Wiggins’ age, Butler was in the midst of struggling through a rookie season in which he only played 359 total minutes.

Butler, who didn’t enter the league as fully formed on offense as Wiggins, also didn’t post great rebounding or assist numbers right away — in his first season as a full-time starter, the ex-Bulls forward averaged 4.9 RPG and 2.6 APG in 38.7 MPG. By comparison, last season, in fewer minutes per game, Butler posted 6.2 RPG and 5.5 APG to go along with impressive production on both offense and defense.

Not all players develop like Butler did, but Wiggins has the advantage of working with the same coach the three-time All-Star played under for several seasons. If Thibodeau’s defensive-minded approach rubs off on Wiggins, he’s capable of becoming one of the game’s elite players and earning every dollar of a maximum salary extension.

Right now though, that sort of commitment would have to be made with confidence in Wiggins’ ability to develop into a more complete all-around player, since the current version of the young forward probably isn’t worth a max investment.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Thibodeau: Wolves Working On Wiggins Extension

July 19th, 2017 at 11:24am CST by Luke Adams

Appearing today at a press conference to introduce newly-signed guard Jamal Crawford, Timberwolves head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau confirmed that his team is working on a contract extension for Andrew Wiggins, tweets Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune.

Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft, is one of 21 former first-round picks eligible for a rookie scale contract extension this offseason, as we detailed last month. So far, no players heading into the fourth and final year of their rookie contracts have signed new deals with their respective teams, but they’ll have until the day before the regular season to work out extensions, and most agreements come at the 11th hour.

Wiggins’ contract situation will be an interesting one to watch. A year ago, none of the eight players who signed rookie scale extensions received maximum salary contracts, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, who projects to be a perennial MVP candidate. As such, it’s possible Minnesota’s offer for Wiggins will more closely resemble the four-year, $84MM deal signed by Victor Oladipo, as opposed to something at or near the max.

Wiggins, who has missed just one game in his first three NBA seasons, has shown impressive development as a scorer, increasing his PPG to 23.6 and improving his 3PT% to .356 in 2016/17. Those figures were both career bests by a comfortable margin. However, Wiggins’ abilities as a defender, rebounder, and distributor haven’t grown at the same rate.

At age 22, Wiggins has plenty of time to improve those areas of his game and could turn into a dominant two-way player, but it’s not clear yet how aggressively the Timberwolves are willing to bet on his continued development.

If Wiggins and the Wolves don’t reach an agreement on an extension by opening night, the team would still be in the driver’s seat to keep him for the long term, since he’d be eligible for restricted free agency in 2018.

Wolves Notes: Rubio, Muhammad, Thibodeau, Wiggins

February 24th, 2017 at 7:37pm CST by Milo Taibi

Now that the dust has settled from the trade deadline, Ricky Rubio has high aspirations for the 22-35 Timberwolves.

“I believe this team can make the playoffs and we can make a push,” Rubio told Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune (Twitter link). Minnesota will have a tough road ahead to forge a postseason run. The Wolves entered Friday three games behind the Nuggets for the eighth-seed of the Western Conference, and two teams ahead of them- the Pelicans and Mavericks- made stellar deadline acquisitions to boost their chances.

Rubio spoke to reporters, including Jon Krawczynsk of the Associated Press, about the human element of being mentioned in trade rumors.

“As pros, we know what’s the deal,” Rubio said. “But yeah, this time felt a little different. It’s all rumors. Until it doesn’t go down, you don’t believe it…I know this is a business and it has to be like that.”