It was after 3 a.m. on Thursday when the bleary-eyed Minnesota Timberwolves front office staff believed they had landed on the structure of a deal that could get them the point guard they had been chasing for years.
The Charlotte Hornets had finally expressed a willingness to engage in discussions for former All-Star LaMelo Ball, a player Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and head coach Chris Finch had long believed was the ideal backcourt running mate for Anthony Edwards.
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Executives, scouts and coaches had just finished the two-day NBA Draft when they had to shift gears and go into dealmaking mode to try to out-maneuver several other teams that were interested in Ball. Yes, he can get a little reckless on the court sometimes and has yet to play in a playoff game in six NBA seasons. But Ball was coming off his best season as a professional, with advanced metrics that were off the charts. He has a combination of size, shooting and playmaking that helped turn the Hornets into one of the league’s best teams over the final four months of the season.
This was the kind of deal that was right in Connelly’s wheelhouse. While some executives across the league prefer to play it safe, Connelly has been digging into the batter’s box and swinging from his heels ever since he arrived in Minnesota in 2022. He made a heavily debated trade for Rudy Gobert just weeks after being hired, traded franchise centerpiece Karl-Anthony Towns days before training camp opened in 2024 and now was trying to find a way to grab one of the most polarizing players in the league in Ball.
Where others may see a move like that as bringing an inordinate amount of risk on a roster that has Edwards entering his prime, Connelly embraces it. The Timberwolves took a step back this season following back-to-back runs to the Western Conference finals, getting ousted in the second round by the San Antonio Spurs in six games.
“Risky, I think, is if you’re a championship-level team and make a huge trade,” Connelly said in May, after the season ended. “I don’t know what level of risk there is when you’re bounced in the second round. … We’re not going to have a blind appetite for risk just because. But until you win it all, I think you’ve got to just keep playing hands.”
The Spurs hounded Edwards all over the court in that second-round matchup. Connelly knew that the Wolves needed another lead ballhandler and floor spacer to take some of that pressure off him and to force defenses to think twice about sending a double-team as soon as Edwards crosses half court.
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The Timberwolves explored multiple avenues to add another star next to Edwards in the days leading up to landing Ball. There were discussions with the Chicago Bulls about Josh Giddey. They had talks with the Boston Celtics about Jaylen Brown, a team source said, but the Celtics were looking for a package including Gobert, Reid and similar pick compensation that went to Charlotte for Ball, team sources said. That was just too much for the Wolves to pay for a soon-to-be 30-year-old forward who, while being a better overall player than Ball, wasn’t as clean a fit next to Edwards.
“We have to ensure that we’re creating as many good shots as possible, specifically for Ant, and whether that’s on our present roster or whether it’s looking outside of our team, it’s something that we certainly have to address,” Connelly said this week.
For Connelly, the risk was not doing anything. Holding firm with a roster that regressed this season when trying to mount a charge at two deep, young and hungry teams in the Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder at the top of the West was not an option.
“We got smacked by Oklahoma City last year,” Connelly said on Tuesday, in reference to their 4-1 loss to OKC in the 2025 conference finals. “We got smacked by San Antonio, and we know they’re teams we have to beat. … Denver is a world champion team and (has) the best player in the world, so we know our competition is not going to sit still, and nor will we.”
Word had started to circulate on Wednesday night that the Hornets were seriously entertaining offers on Ball, and the Timberwolves wasted no time. The final offer for Ball was prepared and sent to owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez for review and approval early Thursday morning, according to multiple team sources that spoke on the condition of anonymity because the trade has not been officially announced.
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Lore and Rodriguez looked at the offer — former Sixth Man of the Year and Timberwolves cult hero Naz Reid, an unprotected first-round pick in 2033 and three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030) and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033) to Charlotte for Ball and swingman Josh Green — and immediately gave the green light, team sources said.
Last weekend, the Wolves had agreed to trade Julius Randle and the 28th pick in the first round to the Brooklyn Nets for pick No. 33. It was a salary dump that had some around the league wondering if the Timberwolves were going to spend next season under the luxury tax line, which is not something that any player on the level of Edwards would be thrilled about.
Instead, that trade helped open the necessary flexibility for the Wolves to consider pursuing Ball in earnest.
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Ball averaged 20.1 points, 7.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds last season. There are questions about his decision-making and the seriousness with which he takes the game, but the Wolves love his size, shot creation and playmaking. Maybe even more importantly, the Hornets were 11.6 points per 100 possessions better on offense with Ball on the floor last season, per Cleaning The Glass. Kon Knueppel, Charlotte’s terrific rookie, made 46 percent of his 3-pointers when Ball was on the court. That number dipped to 37 percent when he was off. Ball helped lead the Hornets to a 34-17 record after Jan. 1, a stretch in which they posted the No. 1-ranked offense and fifth-ranked defense.
“We needed a guy like LaMelo to make everybody better,” one team source told The Athletic. “That was the thing that was missing.”
Whereas many throughout the league see an immature player, the Wolves see the opportunity for a young talent to grow up quickly in their culture built on defense and competitiveness.
The enduring image of that playoff loss to San Antonio was multiple Spurs defenders waiting for Edwards to cross half court and then pouncing on him to get the ball out of his hands. Randle and Gobert couldn’t make the Spurs pay for that strategy, and Donte DiVincenzo missed that series with a torn right Achilles tendon.
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Ball’s ability to initiate offense, shoot 3-pointers at a high volume and see over the top of the defense with his 6-foot-7 frame to find open shooters is exactly what the Wolves were missing. Ball, who was the No. 3 pick in the same 2020 draft class that saw Edwards chosen No. 1, is also just 24. He fits with the timeline of a young core that is tip-toeing into its prime, and he arrives with the tacit approval of Edwards, who has long admired Ball’s game, sources said.
Lore and Rodriguez signed off on paying the luxury tax, a necessity to execute this move. While more than a few basketball analysts panned the deal for Minnesota, Wolves personnel were celebrating inside team headquarters, sources said.
“He makes Ant better, Jaden (McDaniels) better, Rudy and Joan (Beringer) better,” one team source said. “How many other players in the league would make your three best players better without getting in their way?”
There are two red flags for the Wolves as they venture down this path:
• Ball’s durability. He played 72 games last season but logged just 105 total in the three seasons before that because of various injuries. He has only played more than 51 games twice in his six-year career. The Timberwolves have the league’s medical and athletic training staff of the year, a group that gives them confidence that they can help Ball stay on the floor.
• Why would the Hornets trade Ball? He was the face of the franchise, wildly popular both at home in Charlotte and across the league, especially with young fans. He is coming off maybe his best season. And yet the Hornets moved on from him to focus on even younger players like Brandon Miller and Knueppel. It’s an uncommon move for a mid-market franchise with a marquee player. The Wolves are undaunted, believing that the chemistry and culture they have established through three straight playoff appearances will be enough to bring the best out of Ball as he approaches the early days of his prime.
Ball has played on mostly losing teams in Charlotte. The Hornets haven’t been to the playoffs since 2016 and haven’t won a series since 2002. In Minnesota, he will no longer be the face of the franchise. Edwards has that role, and the Wolves also have proud veterans in Gobert and McDaniels to help hold Ball accountable on the court.
“Our guys have tasted enough winning that they want to taste more of it,” one team source said.
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Parting with Reid is a gut punch to the organization, the fanbase and the state of Minnesota. Reid was the longest-tenured Wolf, coming to Minnesota as an undrafted rookie in 2019, grinding his way through the G League in Iowa and staying in Minnesota every summer to turn himself into the best developmental success story in franchise history. He won the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2024, morphed into a sleek, versatile matchup nightmare capable of playing small-ball center, power forward or small forward and signed two contract extensions totaling $167 million.
Along the way, he became a folk hero among Wolves fans, who drew inspiration from his journey on the backroads to the NBA. Only Edwards rivaled his popularity locally. Reid starred in local television commercials, saw his name tattooed on hundreds of Wolves fans during the team’s run to the 2024 West finals and delighted in seeing fans bring his famous beach towel to far-off locales around the world.
Gov. Tim Walz posted a heartfelt thank-you note to Reid after he was traded, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running to succeed Walz, followed suit, both fully aware that a kinship with Reid would go a long way.
“You’ll always have a home here, Naz,” Walz posted.
Just a few days earlier, Reid was preparing to become the full-time starter at power forward for the first time in his career when the Timberwolves traded Randle to Brooklyn. But the Hornets insisted on Reid being in the trade, sources said. The 2033 unprotected first-rounder is a big piece for Charlotte, and the 2028 swap could help. But the only way Minnesota swaps in 2029 is if the Wolves finish in the top five of the draft lottery. The 2030 swap that the Hornets will have is the least favorable of San Antonio and Minnesota, making it unlikely that the Wolves will lose that pick.
With that context in mind, the Wolves swallowed hard and pulled the trigger. They knew it would sting them and their fans, who have declared a period of mourning as Reid departs.
In the end, finding an All-Star-caliber point guard who is on the same timeline as Edwards and McDaniels proved to be too much for the Timberwolves to pass up. With Randle in Brooklyn and Reid in Charlotte, the Wolves have suddenly morphed from a team that relied on overwhelming size into a slightly smaller, much sleeker team.
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They do not have a traditional power forward on the roster, and league sources say the Wolves are looking at several options for help at the four. They are also in the market to add more shooting around Ball and Edwards. The work continues, but the magnitude of the Ball trade means that the major deals are done now.
Ball and Edwards both turn 25 in August. Gobert (34) and DiVincenzo (29) are the only players on the roster older than 26. Beringer, Terrence Shannon Jr. and newly re-signed Ayo Dosunmu are all raring to go. Ball has three years left on his contract, as do Edwards and McDaniels.
“Our roster is stacked for the next three years,” one team source said. “And probably longer.”
Even as Oklahoma City and San Antonio appear to be a cut above the rest of the West, with young rosters and a treasure trove of picks to keep them there for a while, the Timberwolves are not running away from the fight. They were one of the first teams to go ultra big when they paired Gobert and Towns and took down the defending champion Nuggets in the second round of the 2024 playoffs. Now, after getting overwhelmed by Victor Wembanyama and the supersized Spurs, the Wolves are zagging again by putting together a sleeker, faster team as a counter.
Is Ball ready for this? Are the Wolves ready for Ball? They are about to find out.
You might call it a risky move. To Connelly, that is a compliment. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
“Risk is all self-induced pressure,” Connelly said on Tuesday. “If you don’t win, what’s the risk? I’d rather get fired for trying than sit here and just do the job in survival mode.”