Glen Taylor Says Andrew Wiggins Isn't Available in Trade, Will Get Max Contract

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins expects a max contract extension by the Oct. 16 deadline for rookie extensions.

Wolves owner Glen Taylor made it clear he plans on giving it to him.

Taylor told Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune that he plans on handing Wiggins a five-year, $150 million offer. The first pick of the 2014 NBA draft is also unavailable in any trade package—including one for Kyrie Irving—according to Taylor.

Wiggins told Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated last month he expects "nothing less" than a max extension. He averaged 23.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 2016-17, making marked improvements from three-point range and continuing his development as a defender.

Taylor later told the Associated Press (via ESPN) that he wants to see future development from Wiggins to warrant the max deal:

"To me, by making this offer, I'm speculating that his contribution to the team will be more in the future," Taylor said. "We've got to be better. He can't be paid just for what he's doing today. He's got to be better.

"So when you're talking about negotiations on his part, I'm already extending to him that I'm willing to meet the max. But there are some things that I need out of him, and that is the commitment to be a better player than you are today."

There is some concern about whether Wiggins is worthy of a max deal, particularly because of his propensity to take bad mid-range shots and still-shaky ability to create for others. His developmental curve tracks closer to a DeMar DeRozan type than a foundational superstar—good but not franchise-changing.

But Taylor's readiness to hand Wiggins the max is understandable. The Kansas product doesn't turn 23 until February, has tangibly improved every season and creates a potentially stellar wing tandem with the newly acquired Jimmy Butler. If Otto Porter Jr. got a max contract this summer, Wiggins will have a dozen teams at his doorstep at 12:01 a.m. next July 1 with a max deal in hand.

The NBA's new collective bargaining agreement should also allow Minnesota to avoid another Kevin Love-Ricky Rubio situation. Under the new CBA, teams are allowed to sign two players to designated rookie-scale extensions rather than the previous one. The Wolves' 2014 trade of Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers was in part necessitated by a decision to save their one designated extension for Rubio.

Under the old CBA, Minnesota likely would have allowed Wiggins to hit restricted free agency next summer and saved its designated rookie extension for Karl-Anthony Towns. Wiggins still could have signed a five-year contract at that point, but the Wolves would have risked alienating him or creating tension behind the scenes.

Towns will be eligible for his max extension next summer.