Minnesota is moving to lock up Wiggins long-term.
The Minnesota Timberwolves and Andrew Wiggins are expected to finalize a five-year, $148 million extension by Saturday, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor has told Minnesota-based ABC5’s Darren Wolfson. The extension would begin next season in 2018, since Wiggins has one year remaining on his rookie deal.
It’s possible that Taylor is being overly optimistic, but this report appears to be as sound as they come. The Timberwolves begin training camp on Saturday, meaning both sides have incentives to finalize an extension by then.
Wiggins has spent three seasons in the league, winning Rookie of the Year in 2015. He has increased his scoring averages each season, recording 23.6 points per game last year on 45 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent shooting from behind the three-point line. The 22-year-old has also only missed a single game in his NBA career.
The Timberwolves have been assembling a young core that could be ready to start winning now, and extending Wiggins into the future is just the first step. Next year, Minnesota can do the same thing with Karl-Anthony Towns.
Still, no team should hand out $148 million in this market without hesitation. Here’s the two sides to the Wiggins extension.
Why the Timberwolves should be nervous about this
Wiggins has proven one thing so far in the NBA: He can score. But our collective understanding of the sport has (hopefully) advanced to the point that we understand scoring alone doesn’t necessarily translate to winning basketball.
We know he can score, so now the Timberwolves want to see Wiggins do more on the court. So far, he hasn’t created shots for others (2.1 assists per game in his career), rebounded well (4.1 career rebounds per game), or made a defensive impact (the Timberwolves were six points better defensively without him on the floor). Those are all things that Minnesota needs from Wiggins going into the future.
If Wiggins plateaus as a high-volume scorer with average efficiency — basically what he is right now — then the Timberwolves will be paying buckets of money to a player until 2023.
C’mon, now: This was a no-brainer
Fortunately, the other side of this is extremely easy. Wiggins has scored 4,995 points in his first three seasons, and did so mostly before turning 22. Only 12 other players have scored that much this early in their NBA careers — and all had sensational careers.
Wiggins will need to improve in several areas, but he should! He’s 22! This is a sensational prospect who landed in Minnesota thanks to the trade of their former franchise player, and while Wiggins might not technically be considered that, the Timberwolves have soaring expectations all the same.
Minnesota can extend Towns next year, and you have to like those two playing together for the next six-plus years.