Anthony Edwards Could Win the NBA Scoring Title With LaMelo Ball

Anthony Edwards is going about to experience basketball freedom that he hasn't had since Karl-Anthony Towns was his running mate in Minnesota three years ago.

Why? LaMelo Ball is the ultimate double-team buster, who will command enough attention on his own that teams won't be able to relentlessly send defenders at Edwards as they have over the past two seasons. If they do, Ball can torch the primary defender and be a dominant scorer or kick it to wide-open teammates, who will be operating in space if teams keep two defenders on Ant-Man.

"From the minute Karl Towns got traded, Ant Edwards has been relentlessly double-teamed. Maybe Luka (Doncic) gets comparable level of double-teams, but the double-teams that Ant is getting are heavy. It bothers him, and he complains about it — and the guy that prevented those double-teams is watching, holding the trophy," NBA insider Brian Windhorst said on The Rich Eisen Show.

"I think Minnesota realized, 'Maybe let's try to see if we can fix this.' They tried to go for Giannis; they couldn't get him. They looked into some other players they couldn't get. The guy that they could get was LaMelo. LaMelo is a mystery. He has not had almost any playoff history whatsoever, and he's got an injury history that is worrisome. But, my gosh, is he a double-team buster and a great guy to put alongside Ant. You double-team Ant now, you do so at your own peril. They can share, they can play off the ball with each other, they're going to be highly entertaining to watch."

Edwards struggled with double-teams in 2024-25, the first season without Towns. But he learned how to play through constant pressure in 2025-26, although it was too much to overcome against the gifted Spurs and two bad knees in the playoffs.

“It's fun, though," Edwards said last December about facing double-teams. "Last year it was frustrating, but now I done seen everything breaking the film down, still finding ways to be aggressive. So it's fun."

What's crazy is that Edwards, despite the insane attention he draws from defenders, saw his scoring average increase from 27.6 points to 28.8 points, while he trimmed his turnovers year over year from 3.2 per game to 2.9. If the double-teams decrease and Edwards is playing off the ball more in 2026-27, just imagine how dominant he might be.

Ball took about 17 shots per game last season with Charlotte. Even if he attempts as many or more shots with the Wolves, it doesn't mean Edwards' volume will drop from roughly 20 shots per game over the past two seasons. Gone with Julius Randle and Naz Reid are a combined 27 shots per game, and McDaniels isn't going to take all of them. That means we could see Edwards' shot volume, and therefore his scoring average, increase.

Edwards was third in the NBA in scoring this past season, only trailing Doncic (33.5 PPG) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.1 PPG). Luka attempted two more shots per game than Edwards on average, while both Luka and SGA found themselves at the free-throw line more often because of, you know, ethical basketball stuff.

Ant and LaMelo aren't the only two stars in the starting lineup. Minnesota also has 25-year-old Jaden McDaniels and four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. Ball makes both of them better, too.

"They still have an all-time great defensive center back there to help them out," Windhorst continued, adding that trading Julius Randle and Naz Reid opened a lane to McDaniels for more scoring. "That's the fallout of it; it increases his role. Climbing the mountain of the Spurs and Thunder is going to be hard, but I think doing nothing would've been a risk, and they obviously didn't want to be in that boat."

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