LaMelo Ball changes the math in Minnesota, and the four spot is the one place where the Timberwolves still have a real decision to make.
Minnesota's roster looks nothing like it did in June, and the starting lineup talk has changed with it.
The Timberwolves landed LaMelo Ball and Josh Green in this month's four-team trade that sent Julius Randle to Brooklyn and Naz Reid to Charlotte, a deal that also brought in the draft rights to No. 33 pick Isaiah Evans.
Add Ayo Dosunmu's new contract and the roster has a clear top four and one real question mark.
Here is how the opening night five should shake out.
The Locks
Ball and Anthony Edwards are the whole point of the summer.
Ball averaged 20.1 points and 7.1 assists across 72 games last season, and he gives Edwards the best playmaking partner he has ever had.
Minnesota has spent years asking Edwards to create everything himself late in games, and the whole point of this trade is that those plays can now start with someone else.
Those two start whenever healthy, full stop.
Dosunmu belongs with them.
The Timberwolves re-signed him to a five-year, $112 million deal with a player option on the fifth year, and teams do not commit that money to bench roles.
Dosunmu averaged 14.4 points on 41.4 percent three-point shooting in 24 games with Minnesota after arriving last season, and shooting like that fits well next to two guards who hold the ball a lot and kick it out to open shooters.
Rudy Gobert holds down the middle after averaging 10.9 points and 11.5 rebounds with 1.6 blocks a season ago, and the defense still starts with him at the rim.
The Four Spot Question
Jaden McDaniels moving to power forward is the easy answer, but head coach Chris Finch has already pushed back on that idea, telling the Minnesota Star Tribune he does not immediately see McDaniels simply sliding over to the four.
Each other option comes with a catch.
Green's best position is still an open question in Minnesota, Trey Lyles has been a regular starter in just one of his ten NBA seasons, and Joan Beringer and Jaylen Clark are still earning trust.
Finch has been open about how he plans to use Ball, saying he wants to put the ball in his hands early and trust him, so the four spot is the last thing left to figure out.
The Pick
The prediction here is Ball, Edwards, Dosunmu, McDaniels and Gobert, with McDaniels listed at the four while guarding whoever he needs to guard.
The names on the lineup card matter less than the jobs, and this group covers every job that wins playoff games.
The two stars are already getting comfortable together, since Edwards says he and Ball have been spending time together away from the gym this month.
Edwards himself counted the team out of the LeBron James sweepstakes while the market played out, so this group will be judged on its own.
A backcourt with this much playmaking, a wing group with real defenders and Gobert protecting the rim can hang with anybody in the Western Conference, and the four spot debate will settle itself by Thanksgiving.
