Chris Finch Has a Clear Message for LaMelo Ball After the Trade That Brought Him to Minnesota

The Timberwolves knew the criticism would follow LaMelo Ball to Minnesota. They traded for him anyway, sending Naz Reid and future draft picks to Charlotte in a move that gave Anthony Edwards the most talented point guard he’s ever shared a backcourt with. But the questions about Ball’s game didn’t disappear when he put on a Wolves jersey.

Head coach Chris Finch addressed those concerns directly this week. He acknowledged what fans and analysts have been saying for years.

“We see what people see in those critiques,” Finch said, per Chris Hine of The Minnesota Star Tribune. “There’s no doubt we’re going to ask him to clean up the shot selection a little bit. There’s no doubt that in the West where we are, every minute of basketball is going to be meaningful, and I think he’s looking forward to that.”

The word “unserious” keeps coming up around Ball. It’s tied to those 35-foot pull-up threes he takes in transition and the no-look passes that sometimes sail into the fifth row. His game produces viral moments. It also produces turnovers at a rate that makes coaching staffs nervous.

But the Wolves see something else. Hine noted that the organization views Ball as a genuine teammate whose energy could lift the entire franchise. They think his joy for playing might be exactly what Edwards needs — a guy who loves the game openly, who makes practice fun, who doesn’t seem to carry the weight of expectations like a burden.

Ball has never played meaningful basketball in April. Charlotte never got close to real contention during his time there. That changes now. The Western Conference is brutal from night one. Every possession matters. Every bad shot gets magnified when you’re fighting for seeding against Denver, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and Memphis.

Finch is betting that the stakes will force Ball to grow. That the structure of a winning program will tighten up the parts of his game that look undisciplined. That the raw talent — the handle, the vision, the audacity — will still show up but in smarter packages.

The trade was a gamble the Wolves had to take. You don’t get players like Ball without risk. Now they need him to prove the skeptics wrong, one clean possession at a time. The 2026-27 schedule drops next month. The real test starts then.