Six years before trading for LaMelo Ball, Timberwolves picked Anthony Edwards over him due to US President remarks

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The Minnesota Timberwolves have changed the power charts in the Western Conference with a blockbuster trade.

The Western Conference side gave up Naz Reid and a haul of future draft picks in exchange for the services of Charlotte Hornets stars LaMelo Ball and Josh Green.

With this trade, the Minnesota Timberwolves have created a dynamic trio of Ball, Anthony Edwards, and Rudy Gobert.

However, a resurfaced report shows that the T-Wolves had a solid reason for not drafting LaMelo with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

LaMelo Ball’s wish to become US President led to Minnesota Timberwolves drafting Anthony Edwards

Edwards became the top pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, and in hindsight, it turned out to be a great decision. But the Timberwolves had their eyes set on Ball until one question changed their mind.

In a 2025 episode of The Zach Lowe Show, analyst Jon Krawczynski mentioned that the Timberwolves skipped past Ball when he mentioned his post-NBA dream was to become the US President.

“So, we know they picked Edwards. But that’s not my little nugget for you all. It’s why they picked Edwards. There were a million different reasons in their evaluation.

“But one of them was that they had an interview with LaMelo Ball during this process—trying to figure out, ‘Hey, is this the guy for us?’ And LaMelo… did not interview very well,” Krawczynski said.

He added, “One of the questions they asked him was: ‘Hey LaMelo, after you’re done playing, what do you see yourself doing? What kind of things do you aspire to?’ And LaMelo said: ‘I want to be President of the United States.’”

Now, that was a massive dream, and for some reason, it became a major reason in the Timberwolves drafting Edwards over Ball.

Minnesota Timberwolves have seemingly gotten over LaMelo Ball’s US President dream

Fast forward to 2026, and the Timberwolves no longer seem to care about Ball’s huge aspirations of becoming the leader of the USA after he’s done playing in the NBA.

Instead, the Timberwolves have created a solid backcourt featuring two top-three picks from the 2020 NBA Draft in Edwards and Ball.

While Ball averaged 20.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game for the Hornets last season, it will be interesting to see if he can replicate these numbers in Minnesota.

More importantly, the Timberwolves need to help Ball stay healthy as he has played more than 60 games just twice in the first six NBA seasons of his career.