LAMELO BALL LEANS back at the top of the key and hoists the ball toward the rim, his weight on his back feet. He’s stoic as the first two fall through the net. He shoots the third as if its swish is a fait accompli.
The ball rims out and he throws his hands on his head and yells, “F---!”
Anthony Edwards stands next to him, laughing. This is his opportunity. He drills three shots in a row with ease, throwing an exaggerated fist bump in the air as the third falls through the hoop. He moves on to the next station.
It’s late September, and the first day of training camp for the Minnesota Timberwolves, but most of the team has been practicing together for weeks. The final drill of the day is the classic schoolyard game: Around the World, where a player must hit three shots in a row, circling the 3-point arc. All of the Wolves’ guards are competing against one another.
The next time Ball gets his chance, he is standing alone at the top of the key. He’s more focused this time. His weight is shifting more toward his toes. He knocks down three in a row.
Ball moves to his right for the next station, hitting the first two and bouncing on his feet as he lets the third go. As it caroms off the rim, Ball walks around the court and pulls his shirt nearly over his head in disbelief.
“A lot of joy,” Wolves veteran center Rudy Gobert says as he observes the practice environment. “The vibes are great. I think we needed that.”
Despite making the Western Conference finals in two of the past three years, Minnesota overhauled its roster this summer, bringing in Ball to bolster the backcourt alongside Edwards.
It made the Wolves smaller in the process -- trading Julius Randle, their key return in the 2024 Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and fan favorite Naz Reid -- but it also made them younger. Jonathan Kuminga, 24, who was signed in the offseason, and the 26-year-old Ayo Dosunmu are expected to play key roles while fitting in with Edwards’ timeline.
They hope the gamble will help them compete with the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, the past two conference champions who have used their size to knock out the Wolves 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 the team’s 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 recognized their need to lessen Edwards’ ballhandling duties, and he has been more than happy to welcome the help.
“I feel like I’m a natural two guard at heart,” he 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.”
It was important for Minnesota to inject Ball’s passing ability on the court but also his energy and joy into a team their 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.
Which is why these end-of-practice shootouts are so important: They hope they’re a microcosm for the season.
For as much as it’s thought Ball will help Edwards on the court, the organization also believes, team sources said, that their two stars can give each other something the other doesn’t have. For Ball, it’s a more serious edge to go with his showmanship. And for Edwards, it’s a teammate with an infectious joy whose bond, they 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 told ESPN. “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.”
EVERY OFFSEASON GOBERT invites his Wolves teammates to join him in Paris.
The Wolves were close to making the trip happen in the summer of 2025, but with too many scheduling conflicts, it fell apart. 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. Almost instantly, they saw renewed engagement from Edwards.
Edwards hosted Ball at his home in Minneapolis. The two began working out on the court together later that month. Edwards joked he and Ball bonded over the need to limit their profanity in postgame interviews.
“We really got the same personality, for real,” Ball said.
And together, they led the push to head to Paris. They chartered a plane from Minneapolis to Paris for players in town to make the trip. Fourteen players made the trip -- only Bones Hyland, who missed for personal reasons and Donte DiVincenzo, who had surgery to repair a torn Achilles a few months earlier, were not able to attend.
“Ant and Melo did a great job hyping the guys up in the group text,” Gobert told ESPN. “And then I handled the logistics. It was really, really meaningful.”
Immediately after the flight, Wolves players headed to the gym for a workout. Gobert organized the team to use Clichy Hall, a venue with air conditioning, which Gobert assured his teammates is not common in France, about a block away from the Seine River.
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 told ESPN. “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’s the kind of camaraderie Edwards has been clamoring for over several seasons. He looked at Oklahoma City and noted how their togetherness had them playing like “15 puppets on one string.” (a compliment).
He noted at media day how the Wolves wouldn’t spend much time together after the season in years past. But he thought winning and building a connection began in the summer.
Now, the Wolves have a teamwide fantasy football league. Edwards and Ball are in sync with 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.”
BALL INBOUNDS THE ball to Gobert and sprints toward him.
The score is tied with 41 seconds remaining in the first half of a preseason game between the Wolves and the Indiana Pacers.
It’s Oct. 7, and the Pacers’ two best defenders, Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith, are pressing full court.
Nesmith stands in front of Edwards to prevent the inbounds pass, so Ball fires it toward Gobert, who gives it right back to Ball as he runs up the court with Nembhard trailing behind him.
As Ball heads toward the basket, he draws Pacers center Ivica Zubac to stop his progress, forcing Nembhard to switch and cover Gobert as he trails the play. But Edwards keeps jogging toward the 3-point line, where he stands uncovered. Ball rifles a pass toward him from underneath the basket.
Edwards knocks it down.
It’s exactly what the Wolves envisioned when they acquired Ball. They see the benefit he will have for their big men -- center Joan Beringer said he’d never gotten so many lob passes as he had during their first day of practice -- and believe forward Jaden McDaniels can make an All-Star leap this season with Ball getting him more open looks.
Last season, Edwards brought the ball up the court more than any other Wolves player, according to Genius IQ, but his 3.7 assists per game were his lowest since 2021-22. His isolation plays shot up, 14.6 per 100 possessions, a career high, per Genius IQ, 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 had 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 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.”
Minnesota will open its season Wednesday night in Miami (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in a matchup of two teams who made blockbuster trades this summer. It’ll be the Wolves’ chance to test the chemistry of Edwards and Ball that has looked natural during 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 of them.
The Wolves understand there will be growing pains, especially if Ball sits out time. He has played an average of 50.5 games per season in his six-year career, although his 72 games played last season were the most since 2021-22, his second year in the league.
Finch knows the team hasn’t yet been tested or faced any real adversity, but 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 told ESPN. “He’s going to be one of those guys that’s hard to stay mad at. Anthony’s hard to stay mad at too.”