Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch is still deciding how he wants to handle Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball, and the choice is pretty clear: keep them together or split their minutes so one of them is always running the show.
Earlier this week, Finch made it sound like he’s leaning toward playing them side by side. “My gut tells me I want them to be out there together.
We've got guys off the bench that can bring punch, that could be handling, that could bring different things, those guys are really good together. You see the TJ (Shannon)/Ayo combos are really, really good.
So, you know, we might just double down, play those guys together, but we'll be ready to read it as we go along,” Finch said earlier this week.
There’s a real case for that approach. Edwards and Ball fit naturally, and pairing them gives Minnesota two elite offensive players on the floor at once. But there’s another side to it: if the Wolves stagger them, they can make sure they’re never stuck without a high-end creator.
That matters because the alternative would seem to lean on Ayo Dosunmu and Terrence Shannon Jr. in those non-Ant, non-LaMelo stretches, and that’s where the fit gets murkier. Dosunmu and Shannon are both capable players who can help in real ways, but neither one should be asked to carry the offense as the primary initiator.
Dosunmu is the easier sell of the two. He showed in the playoffs that he can scale up, but he still looks best when he’s playing next to at least one top-tier creator.
Shannon is a different story. Minnesota has spent plenty of time talking about giving him more on-ball responsibility this summer, but that vision is hard to fully buy into.
He’s a downhill scorer with flashes, sure, but he’s also a shaky decision-maker and an imperfect creator. His fit next to Edwards may not be ideal, but Shannon and Ball could make more sense together.
That’s why the Wolves’ bench-led minutes have me skeptical. The Ayo-Shannon groups have already looked shaky in preseason, and while it’s only preseason, there’s enough there to wonder whether that changes once the games count.
The bigger issue is simple: Minnesota has two offensive engines, and the cleanest way to use that edge is to keep one of them on the floor at all times. Ball isn’t just there to lift Edwards.
He’s proven he can drive an offense himself. Last season, he ranked 99th for estimated offensive plus-minus per Dunks & Threes.com, and the Charlotte Hornets were 11.6 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court, according to Cleaning the Glass.
That’s the kind of value you want to tap into. Ball should be able to make life easier for a lot of bench lineups, especially if the group around him is built to let him handle.
Edwards, for his part, doesn’t need another playmaker next to him every second of the night. Minnesota traded for Ball because Edwards does need help, but he’s also an elite scorer who can thrive when Ball sits.
So even if Finch opens the season by pairing them, that won’t mean they’re glued together all year. They’ll still log plenty of minutes as a duo. It just feels like the smarter long-term move is to stagger them and make sure the Wolves always have one elite creator on the floor.
In Other News...
Anthony Edwards Just Became The Target Of A Brutal New Roast
Anthony Edwards has a way of making himself part of the basketball conversation even when he is nowhere near the floor, and this time it came from an Adidas commercial that drew a playful jab at Jaylen Brown and LeBron James. Brown, now with the Philadelphia 76ers, wasnt about to let that one slide, even if the back-and-forth landed in the lighter, internet-fueled corner of NBA banter rather than anything approaching real tension.
Brown answered during a live Twitch stream with teammate VJ Edgecombe, turning Edwards hairline joke back on the Timberwolves star in a way that fit the moment. It added another layer to Edwards already busy public profile, which has included off-court headlines around multiple child support cases and his recent marriage, but for Minnesota fans the immediate takeaway is simpler: their franchise centerpiece keeps finding his way into the middle of the leagues most colorful online exchanges. [Read more 🡒]
Anthony Edwards Is Giving The Wolves Their Best Early Sign Yet
Anthony Edwards has spent Minnesotas preseason giving the Timberwolves exactly the kind of early signal they wanted after an offseason of recovery and roster turnover. He has been scoring efficiently in exhibition play and, just as important for a team trying to find its footing, he has looked like a player comfortable enough to keep attacking while working alongside new teammates LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga.
Chris Finch has liked what he has seen from Edwards condition, and the broader picture matters just as much as the points. If Edwards is healthy and blending naturally into the group, it gives Minnesota a far better chance to smooth out the integration period before the games start to count, even if the real test of how ready this team is will come once the regular season opens. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Get An Early Test In A Matchup Fans Should Watch Closely
The preseason opener in Miami gives the Timberwolves an immediate measuring stick, and not just because it comes at the same venue that will host their regular-season opener. With Minnesotas roster reshaped over the offseason, this matchup arrives as an early chance to see how the Wolves look against a team that can challenge them physically in the frontcourt and force them to sort through the kind of size they will see again once games start to count.
Miamis group will give Minnesota a useful stress test in that area, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo setting the tone and more size behind them to keep the pressure on. For the Wolves, the question is less about the final score and more about how their new-look rotation handles that type of matchup, which makes this one worth watching closely even in exhibition season. [Read more 🡒]