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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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The Minnesota Timberwolves just pulled off one of the biggest moves of the offseason, trading for Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball in exchange for Naz Reid, a 2023 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030), and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033).
Just like that, the first and third overall picks from the 2020 NBA Draft, Anthony Edwards and Ball, are now sharing the same backcourt.
Ball's coming off the healthiest and arguably most consistent season of his career. He averaged 20.1 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds across 72 games, while shooting 36.8% from deep on 10.3 attempts per game.
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Now 24 years old, he has three guaranteed years and just over $130 million left on his contract, and he'll be eligible for a two-year, $119.2 million extension on July 2, so there's immediate pressure on him to help put Minnesota over the top.
But just as everybody started to get excited about the duo of Edwards and Ball, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith issued a subtle reminder that Wolves fans might want to hear.
"You can't dislike it. It's an elite backcourt, we have to remember that ... But for me, I find myself looking at the Minnesota Timberwolves and feeling like they got a little bit smaller in a conference where obviously size matters because of OKC and San Antonio," Smith said.
"You look at the size that exists within the Western Conference, and all you really have is Rudy Gobert, at least to a large degree. That's how I'm looking at it right now. There's nothing to dismiss or be negative about the trade. LaMelo is a star, Anthony Edwards is a superstar ... I just got questions about what they're going to do with their frontcourt because obviously losing Naz Reid is somewhat of a significant loss."
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The San Antonio Spurs, led by a 7-foot-4 generational superstar in Victor Wembanyama, alongside Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, demolished the Timberwolves 139-109 in the clinching Game 6 of their second-round playoff series in May.
Edwards finished with 24 points on 9 of 26 shooting, while Julius Randle, now with the Brooklyn Nets, had just three points. Reid finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Gobert ended with just three rebounds and zero points. The Spurs' size and physicality dominated the series. Now, Minnesota has less of both.
The Wolves appeared in the Western Conference Finals in two of the last three seasons, but were bounced in five games by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2025 and were just defeated in six games by San Antonio. Those are two franchises with 7-foot monsters in Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren, who are both still under 25 years old.
Now, both Randle and Reid are gone within the span of a few days, leaving just Gobert to man the frontcourt. Other young players like Joan Beringer (6-foot-11) and Rocco Zikarsky (7-foot-3) are still on the roster, but both are entering just their second NBA seasons, and neither averaged more than eight minutes a game last year.
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Minnesota's frontcourt is starting to thin out in a conference where size has dominated over the last few years. Even the Denver Nuggets have three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, and the Houston Rockets have Alperen Sengun.
The Timberwolves ceiling obviously improved with the addition of Ball, but how much does it really move the needle in a conference that's run by 7-footers?
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