Ask anyone who the two most talented scorers on the Minnesota Timberwolves are, and you'll get a quick answer: Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball.
That said, the Wolves aren't completely devoid of scorers outside those two. If both are off the court, yes, the offense wouldn’t score at the same rate, but it wouldn’t become an absolute struggle. This will make the non-Ant and LaMelo minutes okay, and based on Finch's comments, it sounds like we'll get a good amount of this combination.
Britt Robson of MinnPost asked head coach Chris Finch if he feels he will need either Ball or Edwards on the court for all 48 minutes of a game.
“Right now, as I look at it, I don’t feel that we need (one or the other) of those guys on the floor for all 48," Finch said.
A major reason it is unlikely that the Timberwolves will be able to play at least one of Ball or Edwards at all times is that Minnesota will likely need to limit Ball's time on the court. Even if Finch felt like he needed one of these players on the floor at all times, doing so in practice would've been harder.
Both Edwards and Ball will have to be off the floor at times
During his first six seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, Ball experienced his fair share of injuries, particularly to his ankles. Last season, the 25-year-old remained relatively healthy, appearing in 72 games. Notably, this was just Ball's second season playing in more than 55 games.
He also played a career-low 28.0 minutes per game. Charlotte intentionally played him less to keep him healthy, and it worked. Over the previous three years, he averaged 33.2 minutes per outing but appeared in just 105 games in all.
Now, nobody on the Timberwolves’ side has explicitly stated what they plan to do with Ball's minutes this season. I would expect it to be slightly more—say, around 30 per game. That's still 18 minutes of game time that Ball will be sitting.
Of course, Edwards and Ball will both be on the floor at the beginning and end of games. Edwards will certainly spend some time playing without Ball, but he will need time to rest. It’s unrealistic for Ant-Man to play all 18 minutes that Ball isn't.
Ideally, Minnesota would like at least one of them on the court at all times. There's not a sensible way for that to happen. Players such as Jaden McDaniels, Ayo Dosunmu, Terrence Shannon Jr., and Bones Hyland will be asked to do more when neither is playing, and they have all shown they can do so in spurts.
It won’t be all that much time each game, though, that both Edwards and Ball are off the floor. Depending on how it works, the team could potentially go away from those minutes without both of them in the playoffs, as Ball's playing time should increase.
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