For now Lamela’s ballMinnesota’s on-court fitness will be a big factor in the final determination Timberwolves” ceiling in 2026/27 and beyond, head coach Chris Finch said Monday that Ball’s influence in the locker room can’t be underestimated Mike Varkunow of The Athletic relay.
“He’s always in a great mood” said Finch. “Always come in with a smile Anthony (Edwards) have a common quality: they are really hard to get mad at. And they do some things that make you want to be angry. There’s a reflective joy to them, and I think that’s important. As they practice, they make each other happy. So it kind of adds to the overall spirit of the group, which we really needed.”
The Timberwolves reached the Western Conference Finals in 2024 and 2025 and reached the second round of the playoffs in 2026. However, beat writers who covered the Wolves last season said repeatedly that the atmosphere around the team wasn’t always positive — and Finch suggested on Monday that that definitely wasn’t the case this fall.
“At times in the last couple of years, we’ve been called a moody team, and that probably hinders us.” – said the “Wolves” coach. “We’ve traded crankiness for giddiness, so we need to get back to some sort of balance. But so far, it’s been fun going to work every day.”
Here are some more notes from the Western Conference:
- Veteran point guard Jordan McLaughlinwho re-signed with Spurs this summer under a minimum-wage contract, said Monday that he briefly considered it Hawks, Celticsand Jazz before returning to San Antonio, tweets Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. “You only hear good things before you come to an organization, but when you’re in it and you see it, they care about their players.” McLaughlin said of the Spurs.
- The head coach of Grom. Mark Dyno spoke Monday of the pride the organization takes in developing homegrown players such as Lugentz is there and Aaron Wigginsboth were traded this offseason (Link to video on Twitter via Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman). When asked how involved he was in those roster decisions, Dyno said: “Of course Sam (priests‘s), but I wouldn’t describe it as being completely detached from it. One of Sam’s talents as a decision maker is his ability to gather information from many different sources, and I am one of those sources. Sam and I talk regularly about the team, the lineup. But at the end of the day, lineup decisions are Sam’s decisions.” (Link to video on Twitter via Martinez).
- The Pelicans are on the official list Jordan Dumars – son of the executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars – as “executive advisor” ahead of the 2026/27 season, notes Shamit Dua of In The NO (Link to Twitter). Two reported last November that the younger Dumar became part of the inner circle of management, despite the fact that his hiring was never officially announced. At the time, the team described him as a “basketball consultant.”
