Anthony Edwards just went to back-to-back Western Conference Finals. He’s 24 years old, the most electric player in basketball, and the guy who was supposed to finally bring Minnesota its moment. And now, if the NBA universe delivers its most predictable gut punch, he could spend the prime years of his career fighting through a Western Conference that might feature LeBron James and Steph Curry playing together.
BREAKING: LeBron James will continue his NBA career for the 2026-27 season and has informed the Los Angeles Lakers that the franchise can move on without him because he will play elsewhere, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/zzVk6xUVF1
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2026
Per multiple reports, LeBron James told the Lakers he will not return for the 2026-27 season, ending an eight-year run in LA. The moratorium doesn’t lift until July 6, so nothing is official — but the Warriors are reportedly the frontrunners at roughly -500 odds, with the Cavaliers as the other realistic destination. A 41-year-old man is about to make the entire Western Conference miserable one more time, and Wolves fans get to watch it happen while clutching their LaMelo Ball jerseys and wondering what the front office was thinking.
This is the Timberwolves we know and love. We finally had something real — a core of Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Rudy Gobert’s defense anchoring playoff runs — and the organization decided the right move was to blow it up and mortgage the future. The morning after the 2026 Draft, Minnesota sent Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030), and three second-round picks to Charlotte for LaMelo Ball and Josh Green. They also moved Julius Randle and the No. 28 pick to Brooklyn earlier in the offseason. Multiple analysts have described the Wolves as basically out of draft picks. That’s the bed. Wolves fans are going to be sleeping in it for a decade.
Naz Reid deserved better from this fanbase’s goodbye. The man was the 2024 Sixth Man of the Year and the longest-tenured Wolf. He was the cult hero, the guy you could always count on off the bench. He’s gone now, shipped to Charlotte so the Timberwolves could acquire a 24-year-old who has never won a playoff series in his career. LaMelo Ball’s only taste of the postseason was a play-in appearance that ended 121-90 — the largest margin in play-in history. That’s it. That’s his playoff résumé. He’s carrying a five-year, $203.9 million max deal with three years left on it, and he is the centerpiece of this rebuild. An LeBron James-level price tag for a guy who has accomplished approximately nothing in the playoffs.
The real issue isn’t even LaMelo. Maybe he and Edwards click. Maybe the pairing becomes something. As we broke down after the LaMelo trade dropped, the cost is what keeps you up at night — those swaps and that 2033 unprotected pick could represent lottery selections if this experiment misfires. The cost is an absolutely astronomical leap of faith.
But that’s a problem for later. The immediate problem is LeBron James reportedly walking into a Warriors system with Steph Curry still knocking down threes at an absurd clip. The Western Conference is becoming a nightmare gauntlet again. Edwards and the Wolves lost to Oklahoma City in five games in each of the last two conference finals. OKC isn’t going anywhere. The Nuggets will be back. And now you might add LeBron-Steph to the bracket.
Ant Edwards is the best player in this entire equation. That’s not a take — it’s just true. Being the best player and getting a fair path to the Finals are two very different things in the modern Western Conference. The Wolves mortgaged their future and handed their franchise player a steeper climb.
