The Wolves' Biggest Change May Not Be To Their Roster

The Minnesota Timberwolves have had an offseason of change. LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga are in. Naz Reid and Julius Randle are out. But the Wolves’ biggest change may have nothing to do with the roster.

The Wolves are trying to spend time together in the offseason, when players typically go their separate ways.

That might sound too straightforward, but Anthony Edwards recently admitted the team didn’t do it enough in previous summers.

“In the past years we didn’t really spend time with each other in the summer,” Edwards said. “It was like everybody was going and doing their own thing. If we want to win, we’ve got to start early. We’ve got to actually get to know each other. We’ve got to like each other, and we’ve got to want to help each other.”

That was one of the more interesting takeaways from Timberwolves Media Day.

Everyone knows a new roster needs time to build chemistry. Coaches say it every season. Players talk about learning each other’s tendencies, but Minnesota has seemed to prioritize it before training camp started.

Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball helped organize an offseason trip to France to visit Rudy Gobert. The team worked out together, spent time sightseeing, and, most importantly, got to be around each other without everything centered on a basketball game.

Tim Connelly jokingly called the trip “speed dating for all the new guys.”

That might have been exactly what this team needed. Many players on this roster are still getting to know each other. LaMelo is playing with Ant and Jaden McDaniel’s for the first time. Kuminga is entering his first season with Minnesota. Ayo Dosunmu joined the team at the trade deadline before signing that new big contract this summer. Even with players who have been around longer, the roster feels different, and the dynamic has shifted because so much has changed.

The Wolves don’t have the luxury of assuming everything will work because the players are talented; they have to build chemistry. That seems to be part of what made the France trip so important. Gobert organized the trip to his home country, giving the team a chance to work out together while also spending time away from the court. Gobert said the goal wasn’t just the basketball work, but getting to know each other better.

That matters for a team that has identified its moodiness as one of its biggest problems and a factor that’s held it back over the last couple of seasons.

Minnesota still made it to the second round of the playoffs, but things felt off all season. Edwards dealt with injuries, and the team struggled to stay consistent. The Wolves also eventually moved Edwards into a point guard role that coach Chris Finch later admitted wasn’t the right decision.

Instead of waiting until the season gets difficult to figure each other out, Minnesota wanted that work to begin during the summer. Ant appears to be taking a bigger role in making that happen. The group chat has reportedly been active heading into training camp, and Edwards said the team needed to start building those relationships early if it wanted to win.

LaMelo’s involvement in organizing the France trip also mattered. So did Gobert opening up his home country to his teammates. Different players are taking part in the same effort to bring the group closer.

The Wolves have enough talent to make people interested in what this team can become. Edwards is still the franchise star. Ball is a true point guard. Kuminga is another athletic scorer, and Gobert remains one of the league’s best defensive anchors.

But none of that guarantees the team will work.

The Wolves still have to figure out how LaMelo and Ant play together. They have to figure out where Kuminga fits. They must replace what Naz Reid gave them and have to stay connected when games aren’t going their way. Those are correctable issues, but they won’t be solved in one practice.

That’s why Minnesota’s work this summer could matter more than it looks.

A trip to France won’t win Minnesota a championship. Neither will an active group chat. Still, if the team can carry that same attitude into the season, it could help when things get difficult.

For a Timberwolves team with so many new faces, that might be the first thing they need to get right. Before they figure out exactly how this new roster will play together, they have to figure out how they’ll be together.