While Kevin Love’s every move, shot and word is dissected endlessly in Cleveland, the player he was traded for, Andrew Wiggins, is thriving in Minnesota with Love’s former team.
After a slow start, Wiggins hasn’t wasted much time showing everyone why he was considered for years a shoo-in to be the top pick in the 2014 draft, averaging 15.2 points and 4.3 rebounds while giving the Timberwolves solid defense on the wing and shooting a respectable 35.8 percent from 3-point range.
Meanwhile Love, who spent two years as the subject of endless speculation about his future before being dealt to Cleveland for Wiggins and 2013 No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett last summer, is again the source of continued speculation about his future in his role as the third fiddle behind LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
That is the situation Wiggins would have faced if he had remained with the Cavaliers, and his teammates with the Timberwolves said being able to play and grow away from the glare of that kind of spotlight has helped the 19-year-old’s development.
“It definitely helps,” Timberwolves second-year forward Shabazz Muhammad said. “I think it definitely helped Andrew, too. Being in Cleveland, you would’ve had to win immediately.
“Here we can go through our mistakes, and obviously we hit some bumps in the road, and that will help us out next year when we really try to get after it.”
For his part, Wiggins agreed, though he wasn’t much interested in discussing Cleveland.
“Not really,” he said when asked if he’d given any thought to playing with James and Irving with the Cavaliers since being dealt last August.
Wiggins, along with teammates Muhammad, Zach LaVine and Gorgui Dieng, are all participating in the Rising Stars game Friday night at Barclays Center, making up 20 percent of the combined Team USA and World rosters while giving Timberwolves fans a glimpse at their team’s future.
The four, combined with recently acquired rookie Adreian Payne and veterans Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic, give Minnesota a group that can grow together and, the Timberwolves hope, become a contender in the brutal Western Conference.
“With some of the vets going out and all the trades we’ve been having, we’ve bonded together knowing we might be here for awhile,” LaVine said. “We’re just going to make the best of the situation and become the best team we can, and I think the core group we have right now can be the best we can.”
Wiggins not only has to be the best on the Timberwolves, but one of the very best in the league. Blessed with everything you’d want in a wing player — length, quickness, athleticism and a working jump shot — it will be a surprise if he doesn’t become an All-Star Game headliner soon.
It’s possible it could happen as soon as next season when the game goes to Toronto for the first time. It’s something Wiggins, who grew up there, would love to be a part of.
“It’s a dream of mine,” he said. “It’s a goal. I hope I can make it happen.”
He’s off to a good start, and if Love is playing elsewhere next season, trading him away could quickly become just the latest thing Cleveland fans will regret.
