Wiggins dismisses talk of tiff
Vaughan Secondary School alum says he and Jimmy Butler ‘have always been cool’
If there is any friction between Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler, the Canadian isn’t saying.
The Minnesota Timberwolves organization began this season as the NBA’s most compelling soap opera, with Butler and Wiggins as two of the drama’s leads.
Butler requested a trade last month, a report that Wiggins’ brother, Nick, reacted to on social media with the statement, “Hallelujah,” in a tweet he would delete. When he returned to practice three weeks after putting in the request, a “vociferous and intense” Butler reportedly targeted and challenged Wiggins, among other teammates and mem- bers of the front office, according to a report by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
But as the Timberwolves rolled into Wiggins birthplace ahead of a game against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night — with both players still on the squad — the Vaughan Secondary School alum downplayed any tension between the two.
“We’ve always been cool. Even after all that stuff happened this summer, from what people made it seem like, nothing happened. We’re always cool. Even the first time I saw him during training camp and we talked, there was … no problem,” said Wiggins, who acknowledged his brother’s involvement in the fracas but said their opinions differ.
In fact, Wiggins said, nothing happened to him; he was just playing basketball and wasn’t involved. And now that the season is underway, the team is moving forward and “playing like nothing happened.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” he said. “I feel like from the outside looking in it’s a lot worse than from the inside looking out. Basketball players, competitors. It was just a competitive practice.
“It’s not all what it seemed to be from the outside looking in. It wasn’t as chaotic as people think. It was just a one-person thing. It wasn’t that bad.”
The most important thing is winning and nobody should lose sight of that, said Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau. Minnesota snapped a 13-year playoff drought last season, at the time the longest active drought, by finishing eighth in the Western Conference.
“If everyone is sacrificing and putting the team first, that will happen,” Thibodeau said. “The good teams in this league, that’s what they’re willing to do.”
In four games this year, Wiggins has averaged 15.8 points per game, with Thibodeau saying he is off to a “great” start and lauding his aggressiveness.
He sat out Wednesday night’s game against the Raptors with a right quad contusion suffered in Minnesota’s previous win over the Indiana Pacers.
Thibodeau said he thought Butler, Wiggins and teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, who was also reportedly challenged at that infamous scrimmage, all sacrificed for the team last season and made plays for each other.
Wiggins, the No. 1 draft pick in 2014 who is in the first year of a five-year, $150 million (U.S.) max contract extension, saw his points per game average drop from 23.6 in 2016-2017 to 17.7 a year later, the worst mark since his rookie season.
Thibodeau believes his allaround game improved, in spite of what the offensive stats detail. In four games this year, Wiggins has averaged 15.8 points per game, with Thibodeau saying he is off to a “great” start and lauding his aggressiveness.
“I’ve mentioned this many times, but people tend to measure things statistically by points scored,” Thibodeau said. “Well, I thought he had a terrific year last year.
“His scoring went down but the winning went up. I think he impacted the winning far greater last year than he did when he scored more points but we were losing.”
To Wiggins, operating as a unit instead of individually is key to another playoff push. The Timberwolves were 2-2 coming into Wednesday night’s game against the Raptors, sitting ninth in the West.
“Be consistent,” he said. “Keep playing together. We can score the ball, but in order to win we need to be a little better on the defensive side, just playing together.”
Individually, Wiggins feels like he is improving on the court and is also feeling more comfortable as he begins his fifth season in the league. He hopes that leads to the kind of breakout year that has been expected of the 23-year-old since he was a highly-anticipated top draft pick.
“You know what to expect,” Wiggins said. “Every year you get more experience, you know where your spots are on the floor, you know how to handle certain situations, it comes easier.”
While Wiggins’ future with the Timberwolves seems solid given his hefty contract, his future with Canada’s national team is less clear.
He sat out the squad’s World Cup qualifying games over the summer and in September.
“I had a lot going on at that time,” Wiggins said of his absence.
“A lot of personal reasons. I do plan to play in the future.”
As for whether that future he talks of would be at next year’s World Cup, Wiggins wasn’t saying.
“I want to play in the future, but I can’t tell the future,” he said.
“I’m going to try to play but we’ll see what happens.”