No LeBron - Final Roster Predictions

[TheGrey08]

Yeah I saw that too lol. The BIGGEST thing I can point out right now is that all these insiders/reporters the past few days have been going off tea leaves, vibes and chatter from what teams around the league are saying. I've seen no actual reporting since last weekend. Most of them that I've tuned into do think it's most likely CLE, but that's kinda obvious. It's either he goes home to end his career, goes to hoop/golf with friends or goes for a better, but still challenging situation with a shot at winning (MIN, PHI, etc). I think most people would agree the default and spot to beat is CLE.

"I wanted to end my career where it all started. I'm coming home." Tears all around....BARF!!!

It doesn't make any sense that he would wait so long to announce a fairly obvious sentimental/storybook type move like that unless he truly dragged it out due to sheer vanity and to string along these other franchises. And if he is, then I hope it ends horribly for him!!!

There's only 1 reason to let it drag out and that's if he is hoping CLE/GS/MIA make a significant move yet and the longer it drags on the better MIN/PHI look.

[D-Loser25]

I'm still intrigued by what Scoop B said and its keeping me hopeful.

Yeah and he teased this morning about "knowing something" today too in relation to a Charlie Walton tweet lol

Yeah, but he has posted more about Cleveland the past 24 hours...

The best storyline of LeBron coming to Minnesota, and there are a bunch of them, is him "handing torch down to ANT" (along with LaMelo and Jaden)!

But LeBron, or no LeBron, I think TC has assembled the best Wolves team we have seen in their history. They need to go out and prove it.

You think this is the best wolves team if we don’t get lebron? How do you think that? You must really be drinking the “I’m a Homer” kool aid on BALL. BALL is terrible, charlotte wanted to get rid of him. Also, we don’t have a rotation level PF and no, Jaden is not a PF. Most everyone thought the Ball trade was terrible at first, but most seem to talk themselves into liking it for the sake of being positive or something. Not me, lol. If we somehow get Lebron, then sure, but as is, this might actually be a play in team. No idea how some people on here think we got better, but I guess time will tell who’s right (me)

[60WinTim]

Yeah and he teased this morning about "knowing something" today too in relation to a Charlie Walton tweet lol

Yeah, but he has posted more about Cleveland the past 24 hours...

The best storyline of LeBron coming to Minnesota, and there are a bunch of them, is him "handing torch down to ANT" (along with LaMelo and Jaden)!

But LeBron, or no LeBron, I think TC has assembled the best Wolves team we have seen in their history. They need to go out and prove it.

You think this is the best wolves team if we don’t get lebron? How do you think that? You must really be drinking the “I’m a Homer” kool aid on BALL. BALL is terrible, charlotte wanted to get rid of him. Also, we don’t have a rotation level PF and no, Jaden is not a PF. Most everyone thought the Ball trade was terrible at first, but most seem to talk themselves into liking it for the sake of being positive or something. Not me, lol. If we somehow get Lebron, then sure, but as is, this might actually be a play in team. No idea how some people on here think we got better, but I guess time will tell who’s right (me)

Fortunately, most every time you show up to bitch and moan about a transaction, the transaction works out pretty darn well!

[AussieWolf3]

Yeah and he teased this morning about "knowing something" today too in relation to a Charlie Walton tweet lol

Yeah, but he has posted more about Cleveland the past 24 hours...

The best storyline of LeBron coming to Minnesota, and there are a bunch of them, is him "handing torch down to ANT" (along with LaMelo and Jaden)!

But LeBron, or no LeBron, I think TC has assembled the best Wolves team we have seen in their history. They need to go out and prove it.

You think this is the best wolves team if we don’t get lebron? How do you think that? You must really be drinking the “I’m a Homer” kool aid on BALL. BALL is terrible, charlotte wanted to get rid of him. Also, we don’t have a rotation level PF and no, Jaden is not a PF. Most everyone thought the Ball trade was terrible at first, but most seem to talk themselves into liking it for the sake of being positive or something. Not me, lol. If we somehow get Lebron, then sure, but as is, this might actually be a play in team. No idea how some people on here think we got better, but I guess time will tell who’s right (me)

Just so we're clear this team is either: a play in team or the best roster in team history based on whether we get the 42 year old LeBron James?

Ok

[Lipoli390]

Yeah and he teased this morning about "knowing something" today too in relation to a Charlie Walton tweet lol

Yeah, but he has posted more about Cleveland the past 24 hours...

The best storyline of LeBron coming to Minnesota, and there are a bunch of them, is him "handing torch down to ANT" (along with LaMelo and Jaden)!

But LeBron, or no LeBron, I think TC has assembled the best Wolves team we have seen in their history. They need to go out and prove it.

You think this is the best wolves team if we don’t get lebron? How do you think that? You must really be drinking the “I’m a Homer” kool aid on BALL. BALL is terrible, charlotte wanted to get rid of him. Also, we don’t have a rotation level PF and no, Jaden is not a PF. Most everyone thought the Ball trade was terrible at first, but most seem to talk themselves into liking it for the sake of being positive or something. Not me, lol. If we somehow get Lebron, then sure, but as is, this might actually be a play in team. No idea how some people on here think we got better, but I guess time will tell who’s right (me)

“Ball is terrible”?? You must know that’s not true. The trade is certainly open to criticism based on what/who the Wolves game up and on LaMelo’s durability questions. There might also be a legitimate question about whether LaMelo and Ant will make the necessary adjustments to one another since both are such high usage players. But there is no basis for claiming that Ball is terrible. To the contrary, the objective facts tell us he’s an excellent, possibly elite player. In his six year career to date, LaMelo has averaged 20.8 points, 7.1 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.4 steals while hitting 36.5% of his threes. Last season, which is most relevant to assessing the player he is today, his numbers were elite both individually and more importantly as measured by his impact on his team. Here are some examples of those 2025-26 numbers:

- LaMelo became the first player in NBA history to average at least 20 points and 7 assists playing under 30 minutes a game, which indicates both high-level productivity and elite efficiency. He was 5th in the League in steals and 4th in steals percentage. He lead the NBA in 3 pointers hit nearly 37% of his three-point attempts.

- LaMelo finished 3rd in the NBA with an on/off offensive rating of +11.0, trailing only Jokic and Jamal Murray. Even with his defensive weakness, his overall net plus/minus was +6.3, which placed him in the top 10 League wide. Not surprisingly, LaMelo’s numbers made his team better, lifting his team to the 5th best offensive rating in the NBA without any teammates anywhere close to the level of Anthony Edwards. Charlotte finished with a record of 44-38, but the team was just 3-8 in the games he didn’t play.

- Although he’s been a subpar defender thus far in his career, LaMelo’s defense improved last season to the point where he ranked 11th in the entire League in individual defense and 13th in Defensive Box Plus-Minus (DBPM). So his defensive trajectory is up, which is meaningful in a player who is still only 24 years old.

There is simply no support for the claim that Ball is a bad player. He’s obviously a very good player and at least arguably elite. He just needs to stay on the court and his most recent season suggests that he will although that remains the main risk of this trade. Whether we gave up too much to get him is a matter for legitimate debate. Under the circumstances, I think this deal was a risk the Wolves had to take and it has a decent chance of paying off. And just to be clear, it is not true that almost everyone thought the trade was bad. There seems to be a pretty even divide among those who thought it was a good trade for the Wolves versus those who thought it was a bad one. Time will tell.

I don’t getting LeBron will help, but I don’t think he’s the difference between the play-in versus making a playoff run. If LeBron is, in fact, that important, it should be noted that having LaMelo likely enhances our chances of getting him.