The NBA is essentially a giant, 30-team game of King of the Hill. Once one club sits atop the mound, the rest try their best to topple them. Since 2023-24, the OKC Thunder have dominated the proverbial hill out West, as they've finished with the number one seed in three straight years, have gone to two straight conference finals, and, in 2025, took home an NBA Championship.
With this, it should come as no surprise that the majority of the West are believed to be actively looking into ways to dethrone Oklahoma City heading into 2026-27, and, to CBS Sports' Sam Quinn, that's exactly what the Timberwolves' intentions were when striking on the LaMelo Ball blockbuster earlier this summer.
During a recent episode of the Third Apron podcast, Quinn noted that it seems Minnesota looked at both the Thunder and San Antonio, the top squads from last year's conference pecking order, respectively, and specifically made the move to acquire Ball "to attack these specific opponents."
Star Timberwolves duo could switch up defensive approach for Thunder
By pairing the All-Star with T-Wolves centerpiece Anthony Edwards, they now have "two of the most prolific pull-up three-point shooters in the entire NBA," which, in theory, could prove capable of stretching "Oklahoma City's vaunted defense."
More importantly, Ball and Edwards are two of the most dangerous isolation scoring threats in the association, with the latter, in particular, just wrapping up this past year totaling the fourth-most points generated in such sets.
The last time the Thunder and Timberwolves squared off in the playoffs was back in the 2025 conference finals, where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company coasted to a 4-1 gentleman's sweep en route to their ultimate title win.
To Quinn, the main defensive strategy for OKC was to lock in on Edwards and force his supporting cast to try and beat them, something that clearly worked out well in their favor.
Now, with Ball in the mix, their approach on the less glamorous side of the ball is slated to become far less simple, as Minnesota now has two truly lethal offensive threats running side-by-side in the Wolves' backcourt.
Fortunately, the Thunder still seem well-equipped to handle such firepower.
Elite Thunder defense still more than capable of handling Timberwolves
While the Timberwolves may prove to be more of a handful for opposing teams to deal with than they have been in years past with the Big Two of Edwards and Ball now in tow, the Thunder still appear to be more than capable of handling them in a head-to-head matchup.
Oklahoma City has been the game's top-ranked defensive unit for two years straight and, just last season, held opposing backcourts to a league-worst 43.9 percent shooting from the floor and forced a whopping 12.4 turnovers per game.
On top of this, the Thunder are now expected to add one of the game's best backcourt defenders in Cason Wallace to their starting lineup on a full-time basis, something that should only make their main point of attack even more debilitating to square off against.
So while Quinn may believe the Timberwolves pushed to acquire LaMelo Ball to better contend with a team like OKC, considering the Thunder's overall makeup and two-way dominance, such efforts could easily prove futile.
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