An interesting report by Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 earlier in the week claimed that Minnesota Timberwolves star Andrew Wiggins is unhappy with his role on the team this season.
According to Wolfson, Wiggins “whispered to teammates” that he’s not enjoying being the third option behind Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns.
This is despite the T-Wolves having a winning record and being on the verge of ending the longest active playoff drought in the NBA (13 years).
The report eventually made its way back to the small forward and he immediately shut it down when speaking to reporters about it.
“It’s just someone’s word of mouth. It wasn’t no quote from me,” said Wiggins, according to Jerry Zgoda of The Minnesota Star Tribune.
“Everyone that knows me knows I don’t talk much, I just go with the flow… I don’t whisper. If I say something, I’m going to say it clearly and loudly.”
Wiggins has had to take a reduced role on the team to incorporate Butler after he was secured in a trade with the Chicago Bulls in the summer.
The Canadian has suffered as his numbers have dropped from last year with averages of 17.9 points, 1.8 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game on 44 percent shooting from the field and 32.5 percent from three-point range.
Last season, he set a career-high mark of 23.6 points a night.
This drop was inevitable as he gets fewer touches of the ball and is sharing the offensive load with two elite scorers in Butler and Towns.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau echoed the words of his young star by calling the report "total nonsense" and saying there was no truth to it.
“I know Andrew’s character. There’s no way in the world Andrew is saying any of that, particularly from a guy who’s taken the most shots on our team,” Thibodeau said.
The 23-year-old is taking 15.9 shots a game but he has proven to be the least efficient player in the lineup with his shooting numbers.
The former number one overall pick may have seen his production take a hit but it hasn't affected the team as they've still got enough talent to win games.
At 40-29, it's already their best wins total since the 2013-14 season and could they potentially win 50 games for the first time since 2003-04.
Wiggins is set to feature in the playoffs for the first time and is a key part of the team's success this year and moving forward so it would be strange to think that he's unhappy.
But having dismissed the story out of hand, both he and the Timberwolves can focus on the rest of their campaign as they look to compete with the best teams in the west.