The Minnesota Timberwolves are banking on LaMelo Ball being the final piece to their championship aspirations. In the second-round against the San Antonio Spurs, the Wolves' lack of playmaking and secondary creation alongside Anthony Edwards was exposed. Trading for Ball is a high-end solution to this problem.
Minnesota has to consider the juggernauts that are the Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder whenever they make a move. On some level, trading for Ball is a clear way to close the gap between them and these two teams.
Still, the Wolves' sudden lack of frontcourt size makes this a true gamble against the supersized Spurs and Thunder.
The Timberwolves are banking on perimeter play being the solution to beating the Spurs and Thunder
From a pure talent standpoint, LaMelo is a major upgrade. Both the Spurs and Thunder have high-pressure defenses, which makes the Wolves' need for extra ball-handling and playmaking more severe. Make no mistake, though, shifting away from their longtime frontcourt identity to a perimeter-centric identity is a major change, and it's risky against these supersized teams.
The most interesting aspect to me is the 3-point shooting. Minnesota ranked just 13th in 3-pointers made last season. LaMelo is one of the highest-volume 3-point shooters in the league, ranking third in made 3s per game last season. Furthermore, outside of centers Rudy Gobert and Joan Beringer, the Timberwolves' rotation is filled with quality shooters.
This could help power an elite offense and be a real advantage against the best two teams in the West.
San Antonio, of course, has Victor Wembanyama, an all-time great rim protector. OKC has Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, and rookie giant Aday Mara. I have long wondered if the solution to negating these great rim-protecting teams is simply 3-point shooting, and this season will give us an answer to this question.
In addition to being less dependent on scoring at the rim, shooting is a major advantage against the Spurs and Thunder when considering that both teams are average shooting teams. The Thunder, despite their defensive excellence, also ranked in the bottom 10 for 3-point defense.
Nevertheless, as previously mentioned, the Timberwolves' lack of frontcourt size makes this a real gamble.
Of course, both the Thunder and Spurs have a ton of frontcourt size. The Spurs added more frontcourt size alongside Wemby this offseason by drafting Jayden Quaintance and Tarris Reed along with signing Tobias Harris. Likewise, after drafting Mara and Thomas Sorber, set to return from his injury that kept him sidelined, OKC feels positioned to run Chet at the four full-time if they so please.
Currently, the Wolves' lone true forwards are Jaden McDaniels and Trey Lyles. They might compensate for this by leaning into a makeshift forward rotation. Against the Spurs and Thunder, though, the Wolves could be exposed on the glass and more generally on defense.
Even if the Timberwolves upgrade their forward room in a sizable way, they don't have the ideal size to match up with the Spurs and Thunder. Gambling on shooting vs. size to topple these two elite teams is downright fascinating; it could be a masterstroke, an outright disaster, or somewhere in between.
The Timberwolves might have started a new league trend (again)
When the Timberwolves traded for Gobert back in 2022, they helped usher in an era that focused more on frontcourt size. At the time, we were still in the small ball era. However, Tim Connelly knew his former team, the Denver Nuggets, were coming after Nikola Jokic won two MVPs, and he found a creative solution to stop them, which paid off big time in 2024.
Now, super-sized lineups are all the craze. In all fairness, the best teams all have guards, but typically frontcourt size is needed. Conventional wisdom would suggest that teams should double down on size in a league that looks to be Wemby's for the next decade.
Perhaps the Timberwolves laid out a new blueprint centered around 3-point shooting and playmaking that other teams will soon follow in hopes of beating the Spurs and Thunder. Again, though, it's a massive gamble, given their lack of frontcourt size.
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