“I was getting booed in the arena” – Andrew Wiggins says Minnesota fans turned on him before his career revival with the Warriors originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Andrew Wiggins and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ love story only lasted 5 ½ seasons. It could have been more. The 6’8″ forward wanted it to be more. But it didn’t pan out that way.
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For a while, it looked like he was going to be the face of the franchise. He had the size, the pedigree, the upside.
The Wolves needed a cornerstone, and Canadian arrived with the sheen of the No. 1 overall pick. He looked the part. Moved like a star. Scored like a star. But over time, the energy around him dulled, until it disappeared entirely.
Wiggins out
The signs had been there for a while. One could hear it in the crowd, sense it in the team’s body language, and eventually, Wiggins himself began to accept the inevitable that his time in Minnesota was up.
“Honestly, I felt like my time there was done,” he said. “I felt like I gave all I could give and I feel it was needed for both parties, them and me. I needed something new. I was there for six years. It was cool there. The city’s cool, they have cool people. But I feel towards that last year, the fans were against me a lot.”
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Wiggins arrived in Minnesota through a headline-grabbing trade in 2014, just months after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. That deal, centered around Kevin Love heading to Cleveland to join LeBron James was supposed to jumpstart the Timberwolves’ rebuild. And early on, it looked promising.
Andrew won Rookie of the Year in 2015, averaging 16.9 points per game and starting in all 82 contests. He was durable, flashy and for a team in search of hope, he gave them something to believe in. However, as the years passed, the expectations never quite aligned with the results.
His scoring remained consistent, averaging over 19 points per game in five of his six seasons with the Wolves, but his impact was often questioned. Critics pointed to his defensive lapses, his shot selection and what they perceived as a lack of aggression. And eventually, the fans’ patience wore thin.
The boos were loud
The relationship soured slowly, then all at once. Minnesota had only made the playoffs once during Wiggins’ tenure — in 2018, with Jimmy Butler leading the charge, and even that run ended in a first-round exit. For a team that hadn’t seen postseason basketball since 2004, expectations were high. But that pressure often fell on Andrew, and the weight was heavy.
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“I was getting booed in the arena,” Wiggins recalled. “So it was time for a new change.”
In the 2019–20 season, it was clear to both parties that the partnership had run its course. Wiggins was traded to the Golden State Warriors in February 2020, in a move that sent D’Angelo Russell to Minnesota. It was a reset for him and a much-needed one.
In Minnesota, the former No. 1 overall pick was the centerpiece, tasked with leading an organization still searching for direction. In the Golden State, he became a cog in a well-oiled machine. That difference changed everything.
With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green already entrenched, Wiggins was no longer the focal point. He was allowed to recalibrate and to redefine himself as a player.
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The impact was immediate. His efficiency improved. His defense sharpened. And by 2022, he was not only a reliable starter on a championship team, but he was also an All-Star. That season, he averaged 17.2 points per game and played some of the best two-way basketball of his career.
In the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, he was arguably the Warriors’ second-best player behind Curry, especially with his defense against Jayson Tatum. Wiggins went from being labeled an underachiever to a vital part of a championship core.
His arc didn’t follow the typical blueprint for a No. 1 pick, but that doesn’t make it any less valid. In fact, it may be more impressive. He found success not by forcing his game to fit the league’s mold, but by finding a team that allowed him to play within his strengths.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 3, 2025, where it first appeared.