The offseason period for the National Basketball Association has been filled with surprise trades, desires and requests. With stars such as Paul George and Chris Paul dealt, there has been a shake up in the NBA. However, no team may have had as great an offseason as the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Not only were they able to pull off perhaps the best trade during the offseason by acquiring Jimmy Butler, but they were also able to add veterans Jamal Crawford, Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson to their already established duo of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
While Towns is locked down, Wiggins is entering the final season of his rookie deal, set to make $7.57 million during the 2017-18 season. Although Wiggins was a possible name discussed around an Irving deal, the Timberwolves now seem more committed than ever. Owner Glen Taylor stated that the front office is focused on re-signing the former No. 1 overall pick, via Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune:
While Taylor can’t talk about other teams’ players — such as trade rumors about the Wolves’ possible interest in Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving — he can talk about his own. He made it clear he is going to sign guard/forward Andrew Wiggins in the near future to a five-year, $150 million contract, the highest deal any team could give him. And Wiggins is not available to anybody in a trade.
Taylor, who actually owns the publication site that quote was derived from, now resides as a 70 percent owner of the Timberwolves. After becoming a minority owner in 1994, Taylor has had the opportunity to coincide with the next great Timberwolves team following the Kevin Garnett era.
With that confirmation surrounding a five-year, $150 million deal, Wiggins will definitely be an important figure going into next season. He averaged 23.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists last season, while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Now with three All-Star caliber players in Butler, Towns and Wiggins, head coach Tom Thibodeau and the Timberwolves are in prime position to earn a playoff spot in the tough Western Conference. With Taylor emphatically stating that Wiggins is off the trade market, the Wolves now have the rest of the offseason to gel and build chemistry going into training camp.