Andrew Wiggins’ temperament: Conundrum or catalyst?

The current situation

Recently, these extended stretches of struggles have come much more frequently than Wolves supporters would like to see. His splits from the last 10 games are eye-opening — and unfortunately not in a positive way.

Over this stretch of games, Wiggins is averaging 14.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists on shooting splits of 43.4/24.3/64.3 in just over 36 minutes per contest. This rough patch is compounded when narrowing the focus to the most recent two games, both of which Wiggins failed to flip on his wake-up switch fans are all too familiar with. In those two games against the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers, he managed a measly 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 0 (yes, zero) assists.

Much of this might be subject of a certain level of fatigue. Wiggins does lead the league in minutes played and has competed in every contest on a Timberwolves team that has played the most games in the entire NBA before the All-Star break. However, even this excuse fails to cover for other rough stretches Wiggins has experienced this season.

His month of December was the initial stretch that caused pundits around the Wolves to think about putting their finger on the panic button.

It was in this month that Wigs averaged just 15.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists on 39.6/35.3/55.1 shooting splits. He later righted the ship in January and resumed his place as the teams highly dangerous third option, but his recent struggles have turned this outlier of a month from a blip on the radar to a potential precursor for more extended scuffles as we move forward.