The Timberwolves’ New Anthony Edwards-LaMelo Ball Pairing Has Our Attention

The NBA’s most intriguing new backcourt lived up to the hype Wednesday night.

In their first game as teammates, the Timberwolves’ 131–106 rout of the Heat at Kaseya Center, Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball were unconscious from the field. Edwards, typically the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 priority on opponents’ scouting reports, found himself with more space than usual when Ball was on the floor and took advantage. He finished the night with 45 points on 16-of-29 shooting, becoming just the third player in NBA history to notch multiple games of 40+ points in a season opener.

“At this point, me and him are going to be best friends,” Edwards said of Ball after the game. 

Heading into the season, Wolves coach Chris Finch insisted he didn’t plan on staggering the two stars’ minutes. Stagger he did, however. Edwards and Ball played all of nine minutes together in the first half, and about eight minutes together in the second half. 

Those minutes, though, went well. Minnesota jumped out to a 27–18 lead in the first quarter before Ball checked out of the game for the first time. The Wolves outscored Miami by 12 points when Edwards and Ball shared the court in the first half, and by five points in the second.

Minnesota’s first half mostly consisted of Edwards and Ball chucking up three-pointers (that were falling!) while the rest of the Wolves stood by and watched. The two stars scored or assisted on 45 of Minnesota’s 69 points in the first half—a whopping 65%. 

The second half was a better look at who the Wolves can be. Edwards’s shot was still falling—he scored 24 of his 45 points after halftime—but Ball was whipping the ball around. Jonathan Kuminga made things tough on Giannis Antetokounmpo on one end of the floor and turned his defense into offense. Ayo Dosunmu was pushing the pace. Even Rudy Gobert got involved down low after not attempting a shot in the first half. 

Edwards and Ball attempted a combined 28 three-pointers. That’s as many as the Wizards took as a team in their 128–116 win over the Bucks on Wednesday night. Edwards and Ball made 14 of those threes—more than 13 other NBA teams in their openers. The threat of their outside shooting is going to be a problem for opponents, even more so when Donte DiVincenzo returns from injury and gives Minnesota yet another option who can score.  

Finch subbed Edwards and Ball out for good with 3:51 to play and the Wolves sleepwalked the rest of the way to a 25-point win in South Beach. Following their substitution, ESPN cameras found Edwards and Ball sitting together on the bench laughing and smiling as the clock ticked down. 

That scene is probably what president of basketball operations Tim Connelly had in mind when he sent franchise icon Naz Reid to the Hornets in exchange for Ball this offseason. That scoreboard, too. Connelly, never afraid to make the big move (see trades for Gobert, Rudy and of Towns, Karl-Anthony), knew he had to do something drastic this offseason. The Wolves couldn’t keep up with the Spurs in the conference semifinals, and Victor Wembanyama (and not to mention, the Thunder) aren’t going anywhere in the West. 

Ball was Connelly’s answer. It might work, it might not. But on Wednesday night, Edwards and Ball looked the part as one of the most exciting duos in all the NBA. And that’s a problem for the rest of the league.

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