Chris Finch on Why Minnesota Traded for LaMelo Ball to Free Anthony Edwards
Finch admits playing Edwards at point guard 'caught up' to the Wolves in the playoffs. Now Ball (38.2 FPTS/G in 2025-26) is here to fix it.
Off-ball role and faster pace should lift his ceiling — grab him now.
- Edwards: 28.8 pts, 44.1 FPTS/G in 61 games (2025-26)
- Ball: 20.1 pts, 7.1 ast, 38.2 FPTS/G in 72 games (2025-26)
- Knueppel shot 7% better from three with Ball on the floor
- Edwards ranks #15 overall, #7 at position in our model
- Ball's last 5 games: +6.6 FPTS vs season average
Chris Finch isn't dancing around it. Speaking on the Road Trippin Podcast, the Timberwolves coach said Minnesota did Anthony Edwards a disservice last season by leaning on him as the primary point guard — a setup Finch admits caught up with the team once the playoffs arrived and defenses started throwing double after double at their star. Edwards still put up 28.8 points, 5 boards and 3.7 assists across 61 games (2025-26), good for 44.1 fantasy points per game, but the shape of that production wasn't sustainable in a seven-game series.
Enter LaMelo Ball. The blockbuster offseason trade gives Minnesota a legitimate lead guard who averaged 20.1 points and 7.1 assists in 72 games last season (2025-26) at 38.2 fantasy points per game. Finch's logic is simple: with Ball running the offense, Edwards slides back to his natural spot off the ball, where the Wolves can finally manufacture the catch-and-shoot looks they couldn't generate on their own.
Finch backed it with a number that should interest fantasy managers, not just film nerds. He pointed to Kon Knueppel — who put up 18.5 points and 30.7 fantasy points per game across 81 games in 2025-26 — shooting roughly seven percent better from three when Ball shared the floor with him. That's the kind of gravity and passing that turns decent shooters into good ones and good shooters into problems.
The Fantasy Fallout
The upside for Edwards is real. A faster pace, easier buckets in transition and fewer possessions spent creating from a standstill all point toward a higher ceiling. Edwards currently sits at #15 overall (#7 at his position) in our rankings, and if the off-ball reboot works, that's a floor, not a projection. Worth flagging: his last five games ran 10.8 fantasy points below his season average, so recent dips shouldn't scare you off the long-term buy.
There are caveats. Ball has never been a playoff producer — he needed 31 shots to score 30 in a play-in game, then faded in the loss that followed — and the defense will lean hard on Rudy Gobert to cover for a lighter perimeter. Ball himself grades out at #41 overall (#21 at his position), and his last five games trended up by 6.6 fantasy points, so he's arriving with momentum.
Bottom line for managers: this is a buy-low window on Edwards before the new-look offense shows up in box scores. If a rival panics over his recent slump, pounce. And Ball, freed from a rebuilding Charlotte roster and paired with an alpha scorer, is a sneaky hold-or-add candidate whose assist numbers could climb with better finishers around him.
