Minnesota Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins wants a max contract. Whether he’ll get it remains to be seen. But team owner Glen Taylor made it clear at the beginning of the offseason that Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns were untouchable. He was asked on Friday if that had changed and apparently, the answer is a firm no.
“It’s the way I look at it,” Taylor said, via Jace Frederick of the Pioneer Press. “These guys have been the key guys and the youth, and I think we still want to see ourselves as a long-term contender and I think we want to keep these young guys on our team.”
Wiggins’ name has been bandied about in trade rumors for Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving. That would reunite Wiggins with the team that drafted him before trading him to Minnesota.
But obviously, the owner would have the final say. And if he’s serious about Wiggins being untouchable, it’s hard to imagine a trade like that happening.
Taylor was also optimistic about his team this year. He believes that the team can not only reach the playoffs, but can compete with the Golden State Warriors — the Western Conference’s reigning juggernaut.
“I think we can,” Taylor said, per Frederick. “We’ve got to get ourselves into the playoffs. Once you get there, I think just anything can happen. They’re a very good team and I don’t think on paper that I could persuade anybody that we are better than they are, but it doesn’t always work that way.”
Minnesota certainly has a rising team with a great deal of talent. But it would need to improve in a big way to even reach the playoffs, a place the Timberwolves have not been since 2004.