5 Trade scenarios Warriors must prepare for this offseason
By Will Eudy
Dumping Wiggins
When the Warriors first acquired Andrew Wiggins from the Minnesota Timberwolves at the 2020 trade deadline, it was the first step in building a roster that would ultimately take them to an NBA Finals and bring home a championship two seasons later. Wiggins was a high-level rotation wing that helped sure up the Dubs' lineup and got them closer to where they ultimately needed to be.
In all, he was Golden State's second-best player during the 2022 Finals run and made significant offensive and defensive contributions en route to his first NBA championship. Wiggins earned an All-Star selection that season and it looked like the front office had pulled off yet another genius move.
Unfortunately, it has been a bit of a different story since then. Wiggins was forced to miss time last season due to a situation in his personal life, and his on-court production took a hit as a result. He was only able to appear in 37 games during 2022-23, making it the first season of his career where he played in fewer than 54 games.
This season, things have gotten even worse for Wiggins, with him averaging a career-low 12.4 points per game. As the Warriors look to the future, they should be making a cost-benefit analysis of the prospect of offloading Andrew. They can not afford to keep him in their rotation if he is going to contribute less than what was expected when he was first brought in.