The Charlotte Hornets agreed to send LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Timberwolves for Naz Reid, an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps, and three second-round picks. On the surface, that’s just Minnesota cashing in for another star. But for Warriors fans, it reopens one of the most painful draft-night decisions in franchise history.
Go back to 2020. Golden State has the number two pick, fresh off a 15-win disaster season, and the basketball world is handing them a gift.
Anthony Edwards went first and Golden State couldn’t control that. But sitting there at No. 2 was LaMelo Ball, a teenage playmaker who’d already torched Australia’s NBL with no regard for anyone’s expectations. The Warriors looked at him…
…and said no thanks.
They took James Wiseman instead, betting on size, athleticism, and potential over the dynamic playmaker sitting right in front of them. (Also, the Dubs already had Jordan Poole, a young electrifying guard.) Wiseman couldn’t stay healthy and his play never seemed to consistently click with the roster and scheme, and he was traded.
Fast forward six years from the draft, and Minnesota just collected Ball. According to reporting from Jon Krawczynski and Sam Amick, the Timberwolves had admired Ball’s fit alongside Anthony Edwards for years, believing his playmaking and shooting would unlock another level of their offense. They finally paid the price to make it happen. It’s also almost word-for-word the argument many people made back in 2020: elite passer, comfortable on or off the ball, deep shooting range, and a creator who wouldn’t need to monopolize every possession next to another superstar.
Just sit with the raw numbers for a second. Ball averaged 20.1 points, 7.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds last season while shooting 36.8% from three. Edwards is already one of the most explosive two-way scorers in the league. Put those two in the same backcourt and you’re talking about a duo that can shoot you out of the building from 30 feet, push the pace until your legs give out, and still has two more gears to hit as they mature into their mid-20s together. This isn’t a fit you have to squint to see. It’s two guys who can both create for themselves and for each other, in the open floor and in the half court, with the size and burst to guard either backcourt spot on defense. That’s the part that should scare the rest of the West. It’s not theoretical. It’s just two really, really good basketball players who happen to be really good at exactly the things the other one needs.
Look around the Western Conference right now. Oklahoma City built around youth. Houston built around youth. San Antonio built around youth. Now Minnesota has Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball entering their mid-20s together.
Wiseman is only 25 years old and should be entering the beginning of his prime. Instead, he’s currently out of the league while Ball is now paired with Edwards in one of the NBA’s most intriguing young backcourts. The opportunity for Golden State wasn’t just drafting LaMelo. It was giving Steph Curry another elite creator to help bridge one Warriors era into the next. Instead, Golden State is watching that bridge get built somewhere else.
Draft night doesn’t always tell you who won sometimes it waits five years and sends you the bill. Then again, Wiseman’s the only one of that trio with a ring hmmmm.
