The Los Angeles Lakers are forever intertwined in the history of basketball in Minnesota. The Lakers were founded in Minneapolis and spent the first 12 years of the franchise’s existence in the Twin Cities. The first five of the Lakers’ championship banners that hang in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles were won in the Minneapolis Auditorium.
However, the Lakers moved west to LA in 1960 for Jerry West’s rookie season, and they lost in the NBA Finals eight times before finally breaking through in California in 1972. And the rest is history.
Magic Johnson ushered in the Showtime Lakers era in 1979, when he and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar teamed to win five titles; Shaq and Kobe won three more in the early 2000s, and Kobe won two more with Pau Gasol in 2009 and 2010. The Lakers became the marquee franchise in the NBA. Meanwhile, depending on who you ask, LeBron either cemented his legacy or destroyed his aura by daring to win the 2020 championship in the bubble.
On the other hand, the Timberwolves were founded 29 years after the Lakers bolted for a city with no lakes. The Timberwolves also haven’t won s— and have two players in 37 years as a franchise who connect with casual fans. Anthony Edwards has brought a spark back to Minnesota basketball over the last six years. However, the heyday of Minnesota basketball was old school, below-the-rim, fundamental play brought to you by George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Vern Mikkelsen, Slater Martin, Clyde Lovellette, and Whitey Skoog. They were the snowtime Lakers, while LA was always showtime.
After 66 years, the roles have finally reversed. The Lakers have moved on from LeBron James and signed Walker Kessler and Sandro Mamukelashvili to play alongside Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Jake LaRavia, and Dalton Knecht to revive the snowtime Lakers. Meanwhile, the Timberwolves traded Julius Randle and, reluctantly, Naz Reid to bring in LaMelo Ball and usher in a new era of exciting Timberwolves basketball. It’s showtime in Minneapolis.
LaMelo Ball isn’t exactly Magic Johnson. Still, pairing the 24-year-old point guard with fellow 24-year-old Anthony Edwards will send a lightning bolt through a team that was in its feelings far too often last season.
Since the Charlotte Hornets took him two spots behind Edwards in the 2020 NBA Draft, Ball has amassed a huge fanbase despite never making the playoffs in six seasons. He was 14th in jersey sales in 2022, 11th in 2023, 13th in 2024, 12th in 2025, and 15th in 2026 while the Hornets won 43, 27, 21, 19, and 44 games, respectively.
To put things in perspective, Anthony Edwards’ jersey sales only overtook LaMelo Ball’s in the last two seasons, when Edwards’ jersey ranked 7th in 2025 and 6th this past season. Edwards is a four-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA, All-Star Game MVP, and Olympic gold medalist, and one of the most beloved young players in the NBA. Even he couldn’t outsell LaMelo for the first four seasons of their careers.
LaMelo doesn’t just bring a built-in fanbase and a spotty driving record to the land of 10,000 Lakes. He brings instant offense to a team that’s spent years with a Ferrari stuck in the mud. After being healthy for the first time since his second season, LaMelo led the Hornets to the fifth-best offense in the NBA, scoring 118.4 points per 100 possessions. That number rises dramatically to 123.2 when LaMelo is on the court. For context, that’s two points better than the Denver Nuggets, who posted the top offense this past season.
Despite having Anthony Edwards, Minnesota’s offense has mostly been a slog. Since drafting Ant first overall in 2020, they have finished 25th, 7th, 23rd, 17th, 8th, and 13th offensively.
Ant has had his share of running mates in six seasons. Karl-Anthony Towns almost got the Wolves to the finals but broke down in the conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Julius Randle flexed his muscle in the playoffs in 2025 and most of the 2025-26 regular season. However, he flamed out so badly in the 2026 playoffs that Tim Connelly salary-dumped him to Brooklyn to pave the way for the LaMelo Ball trade. Ant has never had a true lead guard with the capabilities Ball possesses.
For context, here are the Lakers’ offensive rankings every year Magic Johnson was running point.
- 1979-80: 1st
- 1980-81: 7th (Magic played 37 games)
- 1981-82: 2nd
- 1982-83: 1st
- 1983-84: 5th
- 1984-85: 1st
- 1985-86: 1st
- 1986-87: 1st
- 1987-88: 2nd
- 1988-89: 1st
- 1989-90: 1st
- 1990-91: 5th
- 1995-96: 5th (32 games after four years of retirement)
The Lakers were never outside of the top five as long as Magic Johnson was healthy and slinging no-look passes to Kareem, James Worthy, Michael Cooper, and Jamaal Wilkes.
Again, the Showtime Lakers won five championships and went to four more finals. The Timberwolves made the West Finals two years in a row, and the Hornets haven’t won a playoff series since 2002. The Wolves have Trey Lyles at power forward and are ninth in 2027 championship odds at +2200.
LaMelo Ball is a flashy, playmaking point guard who took 10 threes a game last season. He’s never played in a playoff game. He shot 12-31 from the field and 2-16 from three in his first playoff game last season, and 7-17 and 3-8 in the second playoff game. He’s one of the faces of the Zoomer generation, for better and so far mostly worse.
But Ball led the Hornets to a 33-16 record after the team began the season 11-23. He might not be the answer. He might not help the Wolves take the next step towards a first championship. But LaMelo Ball will bring showtime to Minnesota.
