LaMelo Ball won’t need to dominate the shot chart every night for the Timberwolves to get what they want from him.
That was on display in Monday’s preseason win over the New York Knicks, when Minnesota’s new point guard took seven shots in 22 minutes. Jaden McDaniels took 12.
Anthony Edwards took 16. For a player known as both a gifted passer and a willing scorer, that kind of night says plenty: the Wolves can live with Ball being their third scoring option on some evenings.
That would have looked a lot different in Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio years. Rubio was a terrific distributor, but scoring never became a real part of his value the way the Timberwolves had hoped when they made him the fifth overall pick in 2009.
Ball is a different type of guard entirely. He can create for others, sure, but he’s far more dangerous as a scorer than Rubio ever was.
Still, there’s no reason to panic if Ball’s shot volume bounces around.
By the end of the 2026-27 regular season, it would be a surprise if he isn’t sitting second on the team in field-goal attempts behind Edwards. That tracks with who Ball has been since entering the league.
Over the last five seasons, he led the Charlotte Hornets in shots per game, and even with Minnesota, he’ll have more than enough freedom to attack. Edwards is a more established and explosive scorer, so Ball sliding into the No. 2 role should be a smooth fit.
And the Wolves are not built as a simple two-star operation anyway.
McDaniels is coming off his best offensive season, and he knocked down a career-high 41.2 percent of his 3-pointers in 2025-26. He has only appeared in two of Minnesota’s first three preseason games, but he’s already 5-for-7 from deep and has also been getting to the rim.
Jonathan Kuminga is another piece who can reshape the shot distribution on any given night. He sat out Monday, and his first two preseason games haven’t gone especially well, but the Wolves saw firsthand what he can do.
During the 2025 Western Conference semifinals, he averaged 24.3 points in the last four meetings with Minnesota. If his shot is rolling, the team will keep going to him.
Ayo Dosunmu adds another wrinkle as well. He can start if the team is short-handed, and he can also put up big scoring nights off the bench, including 20-plus-point performances.
That’s part of why Minnesota is being talked about as a potential top-five offensive team. It isn’t just about Edwards and Ball.
Ball’s own history backs that up. In six NBA seasons, he has never been reluctant to fire away.
He has averaged at least 20 field-goal attempts and 10 3-point attempts per 36 minutes in four straight seasons. He did that on thinner rosters in Charlotte, too.
Even in 2025-26, his shot rate dipped a bit from the previous year because he had more help around him from Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel.
The larger point is simple: Ball doesn’t have to take 20 shots a night for Minnesota to function at a high level. The Wolves are too talented for that kind of burden to be necessary. And because Ball can steer an offense, there should be plenty of trust that he’ll understand when to press and when to let the game come to him.
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