Andrew Wiggins has played three full seasons in the NBA and he has shown flashes of being a great player, but there are still too many holes in his game. Offensively, Wiggins has increased his scoring average each of his first three seasons with his best scoring season coming in 16-17 at 23.6 points per game shooting 19 times per game. He is not the most efficient scorer shooting 45% from the field, with a 35% three point percentage. It is hard to see if he will get much better as a shooter, but my concern is that he is not going to get 19 shots per game next year with the additions of Jimmy Butler, Jeff Teague, and the continued rise of Karl Anthony Towns. With limited touches, will Wiggins be able to score 20 points per game? My feeling is that his offensive game will suffer with the additions of those two score first players.
Defensively, the Timberwolves and Andrew Wiggins in particular, were absolute dumpster fires. Any situation that was not in isolation for Wiggins defensively was a struggle. Now, some of that might be the fact that he was playing on a team full of guys that could not defend, but he did not show much on that end of the floor. In the same way that Butler may hurt Wiggins' game offensively, he might help him defensively. Able to not have so much of an offensive burden each night, Wiggins may begin to excel on the defensive end because he will try harder. Also, with Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson on the floor with your team, you will not be that bad defensively.
This is a big season for Wiggins. While the Wolves might commit to him with a max extension, this season might determine whether or not he is with the team for the duration of that contract. Whether or not he is really worth the max, there would be any number of teams willing to pay him the max to play for their team and the Wolves are smart to try and lock him up. Jimmy Butler is a nice back up plan if Wiggins cannot cut it with the new look Wolves. If Wiggins is able to become a decent spot up shooter and a lockdown defender he can elevate the Wolves to a top 4 seed in the West, but that is a steep mountain for him to climb. The Wolves do not have much time because they are going to have to pay Jimmy Butler and Towns the next few summers, which will not be cheap. They might not be able to keep all of their guys together for the time when Wiggins is ready, but until then Wiggins should get better by playing with better teammates.