Anthony Edwards being injured puts more pressure on the entire roster to step up, but none more so than LaMelo Ball. To start his Minnesota Timberwolves tenure, Ball has yet to find his groove scoring-wise, and in order for the Wolves to stay afloat during the next two months, he'll need to.
Through five games, Ball is averaging a career-low 13.4 points, along with 2.2 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game, with 40/35/55.6 shooting splits, (granted that the low free-throw number is only from nine total attempts). With Edwards gone, the Wolves are missing around 30 points on a nightly basis. Ball needs to become more aggressive on offense to make up some of that ground.
LaMelo Ball has averaged 25 points before, the Timberwolves will need that
No one player can replace the three-level scoring ability and the ability to take over a game like Edwards can; it will have to be done by committee. But the most important member of that committee is Ball. In the 2024-25 season, Ball averaged 25.4 points, a career high, and he shot 33.9 percent from 3-point range on 11 attempts per game.
Obviously, with the Wolves, you'd like to see the efficiency improve, but at the same time, that's what you sign up for with Ball. He's never been an uber-efficient player due to his difficult shot diet, but when he gets going, he's one of the toughest players in the league to stop because he will shoot it from quite literally anywhere.
The talent around him on the roster is good even with Edwards sidelined. Jaden McDaniels, Ayo Dosunmu, Jonathan Kuminga, and Terrence Shannon Jr. all have solid scoring gravity that should be able to take the pressure off Ball. It would certainly be nice if Rudy Gobert could play up to his standard on offense, because him being an outlet for Ball near the basket would be life-changing.
I don't think Ball is too far away from being that player again. It just seems like he's in a bit of a shooting slump. A lot of the looks he got in the Wolves' latest loss to the Golden State Warriors were fairly open; he just wasn't making them. Making these shots will not only improve his confidence to continue to take them, but it will open the court up for everyone around him.
The Wolves are entering a fairly easy part of their schedule with a lot of games coming up against non-playoff squads. They have more than enough talent to not only stay afloat but even gain some ground in the wake of Edwards' absence. However, that won't happen if Ball doesn't start playing like the All-Star everyone knows he is.
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