The future of former first overall pick Andrew Wiggins with the Minnesota Timberwolves is no longer as clear cut as it was a few years ago. Of late, whispers pertaining to a possible trade away from the Wolves have become louder, and the general belief is that the former Rookie of the Year would be moved in the right deal.
Nevertheless, as reported by Jon Krawczynski of The Athetic, the truth of the matter is that the Timberwolves have not come close to trading Wiggins elsewhere:
While Wiggins’ camp didn’t hide its dissatisfaction with their guy’s name coming up in discussions involving potential deals the Wolves could make to clear salary space for [D'Angelo] Russell, there was no indication that the team was ever even remotely close to trading him. Sources told The Athletic that the Wolves never had a deal worth considering for Wiggins and that the internal focus remains on putting him in positions to be more effective.
Minnesota isn't going to trade Wiggins for scraps, and clearly a worthwhile deal hasn't been feasible. Wiggins has tried to block out the trade noise, though earlier this summer it was hard to do that when the rumors were flying:
Wiggins has always taken in pride in not letting criticism from fans or rumors in the media get to him. But there were murmurs in July that all the speculation that Wiggins would be moved started to trickle through the once-impenetrable wall. Both publicly and privately, the Wolves insist there was never a deal even considered for Wiggins, who removed most references to the Timberwolves from his social media profiles. It was a nice little show of passive-aggressiveness in a state that has made a cottage industry of producing it.
The trade chatter likely won't go away, but for now the Timberwolves are committed to making things work with the 24-year-old. Ryan Saunders will implement a system that should play to Wiggins' strengths, so it's up to him to take advantage.
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