Summer league is over, which means that, aside from the LeBron James free-agent circus, the NBA is going dark until teams report for training camp in just over two months. Until then, we can only dream of what the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves will look like when they take the court for the 2026-27 season. Will Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball be the Gen Z Splash Brothers? Who will be Minnesota’s power forward? Can Rudy Gobert hang on as a generational defensive presence in his age-34 season? Is Joan Beringer the next Giannis? Is LeBron coming to save us all?
At this point in the offseason, most Wolves fans seem cautiously optimistic that Tim Connelly’s latest gambit will pay off and at least give the Timberwolves a fighting chance against the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder and the rest of the upper class of the Western Conference.
But what if it doesn’t? What if, like Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of the Trojan Horse, the LaMelo trade kicks off the downfall of the golden age of Timberwolves basketball? What would that look like?
We already saw the first domino in the theoretical downfall of the Timberwolves. Joan Beringer, the 19-year-old French center who played sparingly in his rookie season, showed his tantalizing potential in the first game of Summer League.
Beringer scored 18 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and blocked four shots against the New Orleans Pelicans. He showed he could be a super-athletic, active rim runner and rim protector who can match up physically against the best centers in the NBA on both ends of the floor. For someone who is 6’11” with a 7’5” wingspan and doesn’t celebrate his 20th birthday until November, Beringer represents the unlimited hypothetical potential of an NBA prospect.
But Beringer missed the rest of summer league with back tightness. His shutdown was merely precautionary, and you’d believe that if it were the regular season or playoffs, the injury wouldn’t have amounted to much. But a center already exhibiting back issues before he hits his 20s is cause for concern for those hoping Beringer is the key to infusing the Timberwolves with young talent without a first-round pick until the mid-2030s.
With Beringer experiencing back pain, the Wolves need to bolster their frontcourt to take the burden off Gobert in his 14th NBA season and Jaden McDaniels, who weighs 185 pounds. Enter LeBron James. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer is a free agent and is courting teams all over the league.
The consensus is that LeBron has a top-five he’s choosing among, including the Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Minnesota Timberwolves. Many great minds have pitched Minnesota as the best basketball destination and give him the best chance to win his fifth title. But there’s little to no real chance that LeBron chooses to end his career in Minnesota.
There have been plenty of leaks from inside and outside organizations that give the Heat and Cavaliers a noted edge over the rest of the field. LeBron James is not coming, and so Minnesota’s starting power forward is likely to be Jaden McDaniels, who will be backed up by back injury-plagued Beringer and Trey Lyles.
With the frontcourt already hanging by a thread, the pressure on the backcourt to be the best in the league increases. Anthony Edwards has proven himself to be one of the top 5 to 10 players in the NBA when he’s healthy across his first six seasons. He’s blossomed from an explosive athlete and turned himself into one of the best shooters in the sport.
However, Edwards is also coming off the first season in his career in which injuries impacted him. Edwards played in 61 games and was deemed ineligible for postseason awards despite likely being a second-team All-NBA player if the league had granted his waiver, as they did with Cade Cunningham and Luka Doncic. If this is the first time Edwards fails to level up in the offseason, the Wolves could stagnate right alongside him.
Like Edwards, LaMelo Ball is one of the most talented guards in the NBA. Unlike Edwards, injuries and playing for bad teams have plagued the start of his career. LaMelo showed a glimpse of what he can bring to a winning side in the second half of last season when the Charlotte Hornets went 34-16 after starting the season 11-23.
It’s easy to envision him and Edwards bombing threes, throwing lobs, and blowing opponents off the court. But LaMelo has only played more than 51 games in a season twice in six years. If he continues to be injury-prone, it wouldn’t be crazy to see him and Edwards play between 50 and 60 games together and miss more than a quarter of the season. If either misses extended time, Minnesota’s offensive engine goes with them.
Other small factors could lead to another extended Wolves dark age. McDaniels may have hit his ceiling as a fourth option on offense and not quite an All-NBA-level defender. Ayo Dosunmu could underplay his five-year, $122 million contract and quickly become an albatross. Maybe Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark, and Isaiah Evans don’t quite pan out and sap the Timberwolves of any depth. Maybe Naz Reid becomes an All-Star in a starting role in Charlotte and the fans revolt.
If all of these incursions happen and the Wolves go 32-50 this season without a first-round pick, the nightmare scenario becomes a real possibility.
For two offseasons now, pundits have been trying to manufacture division between Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves. Everything coming from Edwards or his camp is that he loves Minnesota and playing for the Timberwolves. However, if the on-court product diminishes and he feels like the championship window is shut, there will come a time when Edwards wants to move on. Maybe it will only take one lost season; maybe he signs a max extension next summer and pushes the problem down the road.
He’s only going to be 25 next season and can realistically still play out this contract and the next before the pressure of chasing a championship really forces his hand to leave. But the Timberwolves need to stay relevant every season to guarantee Edwards’ happiness. There can be no slippage. And if Edwards ever decides to leave, the Wolves as we know them will be a memory that fades as the years move on.
It starts with a twinge in a second-year player’s back, but the fall of the Timberwolves is possibly closer than anyone realizes.
