The Wolves Landed Jonathan Kuminga at a Discount, and Anthony Edwards' Phone Call Is Why

The most consequential Timberwolves news of the past week wasn't a trade, a press conference, or a training-camp injury report. It was the confirmation of something quietly remarkable: Minnesota signed Jonathan Kuminga to a two-year deal worth $12.4 million, and The Athletic-style reporting out of Canis Hoopus and Yahoo Sports framed it as the final piece of a roster that had already been overhauled.

That number deserves a second look. Kuminga was a rotation forward on a championship team, and is now expected to start at power forward for a team that won 49 games a year ago. He took less money than the Los Angeles Lakers reportedly offered, and his agent credited Anthony Edwards with a significant role in the recruitment.

That is the story of Minnesota's summer in miniature. The Wolves didn't outbid anyone for the biggest names on the market. They lost Kawhi Leonard's interest, watched LeBron James stay elsewhere, and pivoted to LaMelo Ball and Kuminga by selling a vision rather than a payroll.

What Kuminga actually adds

Last season Kuminga averaged 12.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 23.1 minutes across 36 games, shooting 46.3 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from three. Those aren't star numbers, and they're not meant to be.

The relevant number is Minnesota's second-unit problem. The Wolves' bench was a persistent weak point during a 49-33 season in which they posted a plus-3.4 point differential, but only 12th in the league in net rating at 2.2. In a conference where Oklahoma City sits at 10.6 and San Antonio at 8.0, Minnesota's margin for error is thin. A functional rotation forward on a prove-it contract, with a player option for 2027-28 as leverage, is exactly the kind of value deal a team $4.1 million from the second apron needs.

The Ball gamble is the real swing factor

Kuminga's arrival matters more because of who is feeding him. LaMelo Ball averaged 20.1 points and 7.1 assists in 72 games last season, and multiple outlets have pointed to his potential to fix Minnesota's long-standing clutch-time issues. He's also the roster's single largest risk: a Ball injury would resurrect the point-guard void the Wolves have spent years trying to fill.

Edwards, meanwhile, comes off a season of 28.8 points per game on 48.9 percent shooting and 39.9 percent from three in 61 games. Chris Finch has publicly pushed him toward an MVP-caliber two-way season, and the market has noticed — Edwards sits around +2000 for MVP at sportsbooks, implying roughly a 4.8 percent chance. That's a long shot, but it's a legitimate one for a player who has never had this much offensive help.

Boom or bust, with a 48.5 win line

The betting market has Minnesota at 48.5 wins with championship odds around +2500. That's a modest projection for a team that added two rotation-caliber players, and it's a fair reflection of the uncertainty: Ball's health, a makeshift frontcourt behind Rudy Gobert (11.5 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 68.2 percent shooting), an open roster spot the front office may not fill, and a coach in Finch whose new-look roster leaves him, as one outlet put it, "nowhere to hide."

None of that is a prediction. It's the range Minnesota has built for itself — a team that could win the West and a team that could be undone by one ankle.

What's clear after this week is that the Wolves' offseason is finished, and it ended the way it started: with Edwards making a call and someone good saying yes for less than the market rate. Whether that translates into wins is now Finch's problem, and it's a much more interesting problem than the one he had in June.