The Timberwolves Trading for LaMelo Ball Proves They Have Sellers' Remorse
After making the Western Conference Finals just a year ago, the flurry of moves the Minnesota Timberwolves have made since then demonstrates a slow, gradual tailspin and a clear, collective regret for dealing Karl-Anthony Towns
If you’ve ever been in a relationship before, it obviously sucks to see and/or hear that your most recent ex is dating someone else. And it’s even worse in some cases when you find out they’re either engaged and/or married two years later after you guys broke up.
These are essentially the signals that the Minnesota Timberwolves are sending after dealing Karl Anthony Towns in the summer of 2024. At first, during the 2024-25 season, it seemed like a savvy move, especially when you considered Towns’ contract, and even more importantly, the fact that the Wolves made the WCF without him that same season.
But now, after losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the second round this year, and seeing the New York Knicks, who they traded Towns to, quickly dismiss the Spurs in the NBA Finals in five games and play a pivotal role in that, it’s clear now that the Wolves lost this trade big time.
Sure, Towns is still making probably too much, but it doesn’t really matter anymore since he has a championship now and the team he’s on should be a contender for the next few seasons.
A couple days ago, I thought the Wolves made a smart decision to move on from Julius Randle, who they ironically acquired in the Towns trade to fill that void. They had to trade the 28th pick in the 2026 Draft along with Randle to make it happen and only got a second rounder back, but I thought punting on him and moving on from his contract was a wise decision.
But with today’s news of them acquiring LaMelo Ball and Josh Green in exchange for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first rounder, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, and 2030), and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, and 2033), they have undone all the progress they were making after the Randle deal.
Yes, I understand they needed more firepower, especially offensively, after trading a player like Randle in a salary dump move. And yes, I understand that was going to send shockwaves through the organization and put pressure on the front office to keep their superstar Anthony Edwards happy – but this move screams “wild overpay” to me.
There’s no question that LaMelo is an extremely talented player, and when he’s dialed in offensively, he’s borderline unguardable. And to be fair, he’s only 24 years old, so putting him alongside Edwards, who’s the same age, you’re banking on them developing together and this team having absolute offensive explosions when they are both in sync.
But if you look at the season LaMelo had last year, he clearly regressed. Maybe some of that was due to the arrival of star rookie Kon Knueppel and him setting the earth on fire with his shooting. However, if you look deeper at LaMelo’s first six years in the league with Charlotte, he shot only 42% from the field. He’s a career 37% three-point shooter which isn’t bad, but my concern from the jump with him has been he’s more focused on his personal stats over his team’s overall success. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but that’s just always the vibe I’ve gotten from him.
Overpaying for him, on the heels of seeing Towns, who was the Wolves number one overall pick in 2015 and played with them for almost a decade, just win his first title, it all just points to the Wolves having seller’s remorse and trying to patch things together so they don’t make things worse and alienate Edwards in the process.
While on the flipside, I don’t know who plays point guard for Charlotte now. Granted, LaMelo was more of a ball dominant “shoot-first” kind of player for them anyways, but he at least averaged over 7 assists during his time there. The Hornets acquired Coby White at the trade deadline last season, but he’s a combo guard who hovers around the 4-5 assist mark and when you compare his minutes to Ball’s – he’s not on the same level passing wise. Maybe they figure this out in free agency (Tyus Jones, perhaps?), but it’s still a significant concern, especially since they need a guy who can distribute consistently to continue to set up and develop guys like Knueppel and Brandon Miller.
With that said, a speculative lineup of White, Knueppel, Miller, Reid, and Moussa Diabate (who made major strides this past season), still should be formidable.
In terms of the Wolves, it just feels like they’re downgrading and trying to take shortcuts to get back to the WCF (and NBA Finals) in order to prove that the Towns trade wasn’t a mistake. But when you also consider just how important Reid was to this team’s success (he was always in the Sixth Man of the Year Award mix, winning it in 2024), and them dealing both him and Randle at the same time, suddenly they are very thin up front too.
Like I said, maybe I’m wrong about this and the Ball/Edwards backcourt turns out to be a blistering offensive powerhouse that makes the Wolves a contender again – but I just don’t see it.
It’ll be interesting to see what moves the Wolves make to bolster their frontcourt, as well as what the Hornets decide to do point guard wise and if acquiring a veteran like Reid serves as a catalyst for them taking that next step and being a force in the making out East.