The Minnesota Timberwolves have overhauled their roster and rebuilt their culture around a new backcourt pairing of LaMelo Ball and Anthony Edwards, as they chase the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference.
Minnesota opens its season on Wednesday night in Miami (7:30 p.m. ET), a meeting of two teams that made blockbuster trades this summer. It is the Wolves’ first chance to test the chemistry between Edwards and Ball that has looked natural in the preseason. In the four exhibition games the duo played, Ball led the team in assists in three of them and Edwards led in scoring in all four.
Shooting games and a new mood
It was late September, the first day of training camp, though most of the team had already practised together for weeks. The final drill of the day was the schoolyard classic Around the World, in which a player must hit three shots in a row while circling the 3-point arc. All of the Wolves’ guards competed against one another.
Ball hit his first two shots, then missed the third. He threw his hands on his head and yelled out in frustration. Edwards stood next to him laughing, then drilled three in a row and threw an exaggerated fist bump in the air as the third fell. On his next turn, Ball knocked down three in a row. At the next station he hit two, missed the third and pulled his shirt nearly over his head in disbelief.
“A lot of joy,” Wolves veteran centre Rudy Gobert said as he watched the practice. “The vibes are great. I think we needed that.”
Minnesota has reached the Western Conference finals in two of the past three years. Even so, it reshaped its roster this summer, bringing in Ball to bolster the backcourt alongside Edwards.
The moves made the Wolves smaller. They traded Julius Randle, their key return in the 2024 Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and fan favourite Naz Reid. They also got younger. Jonathan Kuminga, 24, signed in the offseason, and 26-year-old Ayo Dosunmu are expected to play key roles while fitting Edwards’ timeline.
The Wolves hope the gamble helps them compete with the Spurs and Thunder, the past two conference champions, who used their size to knock Minnesota out in back-to-back playoffs.
“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.”
The Wolves 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.”
Minnesota wanted to add Ball’s passing ability, but also his energy and joy, to a team that its coach acknowledged 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 end-of-practice shootouts matter. The Wolves hope they are a microcosm of the season.
Team sources said the organisation also believes its two stars can give each other something the other lacks. Ball gains a more serious edge to go with his showmanship. Edwards gains a teammate with infectious joy, whose bond, the team hopes, will keep its 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.”
The Paris trip
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 too many scheduling conflicts derailed it. He extended the offer again weeks before Minnesota’s second-round exit in 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 made their move to acquire Ball, and almost instantly they 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 to go to Paris. The team chartered a plane from Minneapolis for the players in town. Fourteen players made the trip. Only Bones Hyland, who missed it for personal reasons, and Donte DiVincenzo, who had surgery 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, about a block from the Seine River. The venue has air conditioning, which Gobert assured his teammates is not common in France.
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 kind of camaraderie Edwards has sought for several seasons. He looked at Oklahoma City and noted that their togetherness had them playing like “15 puppets on one string”, which he meant as a compliment.
At media day, Edwards noted that the Wolves did not spend much time together after the season in years past. 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
On Oct. 7, the score was tied with 41 seconds left in the first half of a preseason game between the Wolves and the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers’ two best defenders, Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith, were pressing full court.
Nesmith stood in front of Edwards to prevent the inbounds pass, so Ball threw it to Gobert, who gave it straight back as Ball ran up the court with Nembhard trailing. As Ball approached the basket, he drew Pacers centre Ivica Zubac to stop his progress. That forced Nembhard to switch and cover Gobert. Edwards kept jogging toward the 3-point line, where he stood uncovered, and 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 he will bring their big men. Centre Joan Beringer said he had never received so many lob passes as he did on their 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.
“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 of the on-ball duties, Edwards also 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.”
Growing pains expected
The Wolves understand there will be growing pains, especially if Ball sits out time. He has averaged 50.5 games per season in his six-year career. His 72 games last season were the most since 2021-22, his second year in the league.
Finch knows the team has not yet been tested or faced any real adversity. The Wolves are banking on both the vibe shift 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.”