The Timberwolves needed a jolt in the backcourt. Mike Conley walked to Boston in free agency. Dante DiVincenzo is likely out most of the year rehabbing that Achilles. So Minnesota did what any team with cap flexibility and a win-now window would do: they went out and got LaMelo Ball.
And this week, at the team’s practice facility, fans got their first real look at what that pairing might look like. Anthony Edwards and Ball went head-to-head in a halfcourt shooting contest. The clips hit social media fast. Two guys who can fill it up from deep, trading bombs from way beyond the arc. It’s not a game situation, sure. But it’s a glimpse at the kind of spacing and shotmaking this Wolves backcourt can bring.
A Backcourt Built for Speed and Volume
Ball averaged 20.1 points and 7.1 assists last season while playing about 28 minutes a night. His shooting splits — 40.7 percent from the field, 36.8 from three — aren’t elite, but the volume and the playmaking are real. Edwards, meanwhile, put up a career-high 28.8 points per game on 48.9 percent shooting and nearly 40 percent from deep. Together, they give Minnesota two guys who can create their own shot and draw enough defensive attention to open up the floor for everyone else.
The Wolves won 49 games last season and got the sixth seed in the West. They knocked off Denver in the first round of the playoffs before falling to San Antonio in six games in the second round. That’s a solid year. But the front office clearly felt the roster needed a shake-up to get past that ceiling.
Offseason Moves That Matter
Beyond adding Ball, Minnesota traded Julius Randle to Brooklyn in what was basically a salary dump. They also re-signed Ayo Dosunmu, their big deadline addition from last season. So the rotation is shifting. The identity is shifting too. This isn’t the grind-it-out, Conley-led offense anymore. This is faster, more freelance, more dependent on two high-usage guards making plays in space.
Edwards played 61 games last season, logging about 35 minutes a night. Ball appeared in 72 games and averaged 28 minutes. Health will be a factor — Ball has missed significant time in past seasons — but when both are on the floor, the Wolves have a backcourt that can score with almost anyone in the Western Conference.
It’s early. Training camp hasn’t even started. But watching Edwards and Ball trade halfcourt shots in an empty gym, you get the sense that Minnesota is betting big on firepower. And that might be exactly what they need.
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