The Minnesota Timberwolves are picking up the contract options for Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng and Adreian Payne heading into the season, according to a report from the Associated Press. The Wolves have a roster filled with young talent and veteran players and this season Ricky Rubio will start at point guard as long as he can stay healthy.
The Timberwolves won the draft lottery and took Karl-Anthony Towns with the number one pick and now he joins a roster with players like Wiggins, LaVine and Muhammad. The Wolves still will need to improve quite a bit to become a playoff contender in the west, but this season could be an important year for the development of the roster. The team has Kevin Garnett back from last year and they also signed Andre Miller and Tayshaun Prince to give the roster some much needed experience.
Those veteran players should help mentor the Wolves and someone like Garnett could be a huge influence on Towns, who still needs some development in his game. The Wolves have been happy with how the Andrew Wiggins trade has turned out and he comes in after winning rookie of the year. According to the AP, Jon Krawczynski reports that the team is picking up the contract options on Andrew Wiggins, Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng, Adreian Payne and Zach LaVine.
This was not an unexpected move by the Wolves, as the deadline is November 2 to exercise the options and the team has liked how the young core has been performing heading into the season. Wiggins averaged 17 points and 4.6 rebounds in 82 games as a rookie last season, while LaVine and Muhammad have also shown a lot of potential. Dieng has played well in the preseason and could get more minutes this year, while Payne comes in after averaging 6.7 points and 5.1 rebounds in 32 games last season.
Ricky Rubio is coming into the season as the expected starter at point for the Wolves, but all of that depends on the guard staying healthy. Rubio was mentioned in trade rumors this summer but they did not go anywhere and he comes in after playing in just 22 games last season. Rubio will need to stay healthy to be a consistent option to start and he comes in after averaging 10 points and 8.8 assists in those games last season.
