When the LaMelo Ball trade initially happened, the majority of the talk was all about how Ball could elevate Anthony Edwards' game and how he could make life easier for the rest of the roster.
But I haven't seen a lot of people talk about how Edwards and the rest of the Minnesota Timberwolves can elevate Ball.
Ball has been the primary scapegoat for what has been a poorly run Charlotte Hornets organization for years. They finally seem to be steering the ship in the right direction, but for most of LaMelo's tenure, they surrounded him with no star-level talent and a revolving door of head coaches.
Now, as he begins his new chapter in Minnesota, he has a level of infrastructure and talent around him that should help him take his game to new heights.
Anthony Edwards will help LaMelo Ball rise in stardom
Ball hasn't played a game in his NBA career when he hasn't been the number one option and the focal point of his team's offense. Ever since his rookie year, the Hornets have had their entire offense built completely around him.
This obviously helps when it comes to navigating certain coverages and dealing with the best defender every night.
But now, he won't have the best defender every night. That's going to go to Edwards. Ball will have more mismatches that he's able to exploit and more space to do what he does best.
It also helps that neither of them will be able to experience double teams when they share the court, and if they do, that's a death sentence for the opposing team, leaving one of the two open.
LaMelo Ball will be a much more efficient player in Minnesota
Historically, Ball has struggled with efficiency in certain seasons, specifically inside the arc. He's always been a high-volume 3-point shooter, which can come with some erratic games. But what he's needed to improve is his paint scoring, and I believe this is the perfect team to allow him to do that.
With the screening that Rudy Gobert can provide to free up Ball just about anywhere, and the spacing that guys like Edwards, Ayo Dosunmu, and Donte DiVincenzo (when he comes back) can provide, it isn't going to give defenses the ability to trap Ball like he's seen so much of in the past.
Other teams can certainly defend Ball the way they did when he was in Charlotte. With the spacing, defense, and one of the best players in the world alongside him, that probably isn't a great idea.
All in all, these factors could make this season, the best version of LaMelo yet.
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