Why Joel Embiid Should Be Anthony Edwards' Next Co-Star, Not LaMelo Ball

The second night of the NBA Draft ended with genuinely stunning news on Wednesday.

Within hours of the 60th pick being announced, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the Charlotte Hornets were listening to trade offers for LaMelo Ball.

Of course, this could be driven more by the suitors than the Hornets themselves, but the team entertaining it at all is a surprise.

Charlotte was one of the hottest teams in the league to close the season. Ball was its best player. And its net rating was 6.3 points better when he was on the floor.

Still, if some team makes the Hornets an offer they can't refuse, well, they can't refuse it. And they'll still have Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller and whatever comes back in the Ball trade to build around.

So, which team could pony up that kind of offer? Evidently, the Minnesota Timberwolves may be in the mix.

But given how well Charlotte closed 2025-26, it should drive a very hard bargain on any potential Ball deals. And the Wolves don't have the assets to survive a hard bargain.

Rudy Gobert doesn't do much for the Hornets without Ball there. Jaden McDaniels doesn't make a ton of sense for a team that already has Knueppel, Miller and Miles Bridges. And Minnesota doesn't have any tradable first-round picks right now.

The Timberwolves may only be nominally in this chase, and that's probably fine. Ball's ball-dominant approach probably doesn't fit Anthony Edwards all that well anyway. Maybe they know that, which could be why Ball isn't the only player they're after.

O'Connor's sneaky clue could lead in all kinds of different directions, but most possibilities will lead to the same problems we just outlined for a potential Ball deal.

Minnesota just doesn't have much leverage or much to offer (unless they're going to put Edwards on the table, which obviously isn't happening).

So, who's a big name that might not cost a ton to bring in? Whose value has dwindled in recent years but could instantly be resurrected by playing alongside Ant?

Is that Joel Embiid's music you hear?!

At this point in "The Process," the Philadelphia 76ers should be eager to get out from under Embiid's contract and lean into a fast, guard-happy era led by Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.

And while Minnesota may not be thrilled by the back end of Embiid's deal, it might also be nearing desperate times with Edwards.

The typical life cycle of an NBA superstar who winds up in a non-glamour market goes:

• Excitement for the plucky underdog;
• A few playoff runs that don't end in a title;
• A wandering eye and thoughts of a better shot at winning in a glamour market;
• The small-market team eventually trading the star a year or two too late.

Minnesota and Edwards may be somewhere between those second and third bullet points right now.

And while that area has forced a lot of teams into truly terrible decisions (like the Milwaukee Bucks waiving-and-stretching Damian Lillard and signing Myles Turner last summer), it's not hard to see why the organizations make the desperate moves.

Make no mistake, trading for Embiid would signal exactly that kind of desperation. And it could quickly go horribly wrong.

But the healthy version of Embiid undoubtedly fits better with Edwards than Ball would. He's ball-dominant, but from different spots on the floor than Ant. And the attention he'd command inside would give Edwards far more space to operate outside.

The natural symbiosis between a guard and big would help Embiid, too. Good luck doubling him when Edwards is on either wing. Either attacking scrambled defenses would be nightmarish for the rest of the league.

There are obvious, massive injury concerns, but the alternative is mostly running it back with a roster that just salary-dumped Julius Randle and won't get any minutes from Donte DiVincenzo (who tore his Achilles in the playoffs).

Even if Jaden McDaniels finally takes the offensive leap many have expected for years now, this isn't a team that looks poised to overtake the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs before Edwards' psyche travels further down that list of bullet points.

Instead of waiting for him to get to the end, Minnesota could pair Gobert with a little more salary and take a home run swing on a former MVP and one of the most gifted scorers in NBA history. They might not even need to surrender any draft capital.

The downside is massive, but so is the opposite.

The Timberwolves don't have the assets to get Ball or most other superstars who might be available this summer.

They do have what it takes to chase Embiid. And he can turn a gap year into a puncher's chance at a championship.