The Minnesota Timberwolves overhauled their roster this summer, adding guard LaMelo Ball to share the backcourt with Anthony Edwards. They hope the move will lift both their play and their mood after two straight conference finals runs that ended in frustration.
The first day of training camp in late September offered a glimpse of that mood. Ball leaned back at the top of the key and hoisted a shot, weight on his back feet. He stayed stoic as the first two fell through the net and shot the third as if the swish were a foregone conclusion. It rimmed out, and he threw his hands on his head and yelled an expletive.
Edwards stood next to him, laughing. He then drilled three shots in a row with ease and threw an exaggerated fist bump in the air as the third dropped. He moved on to the next station.
Most of the team had been practising together for weeks. The final drill of the day was the schoolyard game Around the World, in which a player must hit three shots in a row while circling the arc. All of the Wolves’ guards competed against one another.
On his next turn, Ball stood alone at the top of the key, more focused, his weight shifting toward his toes. He knocked down three in a row. At the next station to his right, he hit the first two and bounced on his feet as he released the third. It caromed off the rim, and Ball walked around the court with his shirt pulled nearly over his head in disbelief.
“A lot of joy,” Wolves veteran centre Rudy Gobert said as he observed practice. “The vibes are great. I think we needed that.”
A younger, smaller roster built around joy
Minnesota reached the Western Conference finals in two of the past three years, yet it still rebuilt its roster. The Wolves traded Julius Randle, their key return in the 2024 Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and fan favourite Naz Reid. That made the team smaller, but also younger. Jonathan Kuminga, 24, signed in the offseason, and Ayo Dosunmu, 26, are expected to play key roles and fit with Edwards’ timeline.
The Wolves hope the gamble will help them compete with the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. Those two teams, the past two conference champions, used their size to knock Minnesota out of the playoffs in consecutive years.
“We weren’t the best version ourselves last year in the playoffs, but we also know how high the bar is in the Western Conference,” Wolves president Tim Connelly said at media day. “We’re very aware of what we have to overcome and how difficult that task will be. And we think we’re more prepared than ever.”
Minnesota recognised the need to lessen Edwards’ ballhandling duties, and he has welcomed the help.
“I feel like I’m a natural two guard at heart,” Edwards said. “I never thought I could develop any point guard skills. I know Finchy [coach Chris Finch] harps on me passing the ball, but now we got LaMelo, so I’m happy.”
The Wolves wanted Ball’s passing on the court, but also his energy and joy. Finch acknowledged the team often lacked both in recent years.
“We’ve traded moodiness for giddiness,” Finch said before a preseason game at Madison Square Garden this month.
That is why the shootouts at the end of practice matter: the Wolves hope they are a microcosm of the season.
Team sources said the organisation believes the two stars can give each other something they lack. Ball gains a more serious edge to go with his showmanship. Edwards gains a teammate with an infectious joy whose bond, the Wolves hope, will keep their superstar happy.
“When Melo walks in here, he comes into work smiling every day and just is engaged with everybody in the building,” Finch said. “Anthony’s a very joyous person, and that kind of energy, he feeds off of.”
“But Ant has a real seriousness to him. He has a killer mentality. They’re both gym rats, so that’s cool. But there is a seriousness to Ant. You can flip that switch on him in a heartbeat and he responds. And I think that’s what LaMelo needs to see too.”
Building chemistry in Paris
Every offseason, Gobert invites his Wolves teammates to join him in Paris. The team came close to making the trip in the summer of 2025, but scheduling conflicts caused it to fall apart. He repeated the offer weeks before Minnesota’s exit in the second round of the 2026 playoffs.
“I’ll set it up,” Gobert told his teammates. “You guys just have to get your plane tickets and come.”
Then in July, the Wolves acquired Ball, and they almost instantly saw renewed engagement from Edwards. Edwards hosted Ball at his home in Minneapolis, and the two began working out together later that month. Edwards joked that he and Ball bonded over the need to limit their profanity in postgame interviews.
“We really got the same personality, for real,” Ball said.
Together, they led the push for the Paris trip. The team chartered a plane from Minneapolis to Paris for the players in town. Fourteen players made the journey. Only Bones Hyland, who missed it for personal reasons, and Donte DiVincenzo, who had surgery a few months earlier to repair a torn Achilles, did not attend.
“Ant and Melo did a great job hyping the guys up in the group text,” Gobert said. “And then I handled the logistics. It was really, really meaningful.”
Immediately after the flight, the players headed to the gym for a workout. Gobert organised the session at Clichy Hall, a venue with air conditioning, which he assured his teammates is not common in France, about a block from the Seine. The Wolves later floated down the river on a boat tour through the city and past the Eiffel Tower. Several players point to it as the highlight of the trip.
“It was great. It makes you want to be honest with one another,” Gobert said. “It makes you want to accomplish things with one another, put the work in, do the uncomfortable things. I’m excited to see how it translates to what we’re going to do this year.”
“I truly believe that we care about one another and we want to see each other succeed on and off the court. We want to see each other win. And in this business, it’s not common to see that.”
It is the camaraderie Edwards has sought for several seasons. He looked at Oklahoma City and noted how their togetherness had them playing like “15 puppets on one string,” which he meant as a compliment. At media day, he said the Wolves did not spend much time together after the season in past years, but he believes winning and building a connection begin in the summer.
Now the Wolves have a teamwide fantasy football league. Edwards and Ball share their own handshake. Their group chat has been so lively that Gobert joked he has to put them on mute.
“I think a lot of people misjudge the NBA,” Edwards said at Fanatics Fest over the summer. “It’s just like AAU. The closer you and your team are, the more chance y’all got to win a championship.”
Making the game easier for Edwards
The on court benefits showed in a preseason game against the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 7. With the score tied and 41 seconds left in the first half, Ball inbounded the ball to Gobert and sprinted toward him. The Pacers’ two best defenders, Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith, pressed full court.
Nesmith stood in front of Edwards to deny the inbounds pass, so Ball sent it to Gobert, who gave it straight back as Ball ran up the court with Nembhard trailing. As Ball headed to the basket, he drew Pacers centre Ivica Zubac to stop his progress. That forced Nembhard to switch onto Gobert. Meanwhile, Edwards kept jogging to the three point line and stood uncovered. Ball rifled a pass to him from underneath the basket.
It is exactly what the Wolves envisioned when they acquired Ball. They see the benefit for their big men: centre Joan Beringer said he had never received so many lob passes as on the first day of practice. They also believe forward Jaden McDaniels can make an All Star leap this season, with Ball getting him more open looks.
Last season, according to Genius IQ, Edwards brought the ball up the court more than any other Wolves player. His 3.7 assists per game were his lowest since 2021–22. His isolation plays rose to 14.6 per 100 possessions, a career high and the seventh highest total in the league, per Genius IQ.
“We needed to make the game easier for Anthony,” Finch said. “There might not be a guard in the league that creates more efficient offense for his teammates than LaMelo.”
Ball’s teammates in Charlotte last season posted an effective field goal percentage of 67.9% after he passed to them for an assist opportunity. That ranked second among 199 qualified players. McDaniels actually ranked first, but with significantly less volume than Ball.
With Ball taking on more ballhandling, Edwards says he believes he can sharpen his skills as a defender.
“I feel like the last couple years I couldn’t play defense as well as I wanted to because I was bringing the ball up,” Edwards said. “At times I had to score all the time. I was super tired.”
Season opener in Miami
Minnesota opens its season on Wednesday night in Miami (7:30 p.m. ET), a matchup of two teams that made blockbuster trades this summer. It will be the Wolves’ chance to test the chemistry between Edwards and Ball, which looked natural in the preseason. In the four exhibition games the pair played together, Ball led the team in assists in three, and Edwards led in scoring in all four.
The Wolves understand there will be growing pains, especially if Ball misses time. He has averaged 50.5 games per season across his six years in the league. His 72 games played last season were the most since 2021–22, his second year in the league.
Finch knows the team has not yet faced any real adversity. Still, the Wolves are banking on both the shift in vibe and their backcourt duo to carry them through.
“LaMelo’s going to make mistakes. He’s just going to do it with a smile on his face,” Finch said. “He’s going to be one of those guys that’s hard to stay mad at. Anthony’s hard to stay mad at too.”