Anthony Edwards heads up new-look Timberwolves’ trip to Paris

On a recent night in Paris, Rudy Gobert was taking a video of a shimmering Eiffel Tower, one of the world’s most recognizable cultural symbols. With the lights reflecting off the Seine River, a familiar Georgia drawl interrupts the tranquility.

“That looks like Walt Disney,” the voice says, as the camera pans to Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards. “That Walt Disney, Rudy.”

Gobert can be heard chuckling in the background, a moment embodying Edwards’ leadership style and what awaits these Timberwolves next season. Nearly the entire team flew to Paris to work out together and strengthen its bond as Minnesota prepares for a new playing style.

This time last year, continuity and stability were the biggest buzzwords being used in Minnesota. The Wolves were coming off two straight trips to the Western Conference finals and brought back almost the entire roster in an effort to take that last step to the NBA Finals. That familiarity instead bred a complacent, moody team that never put it all together. Last season ended with a step back, a second-round exit against the San Antonio Spurs that led to some soul-searching this summer.

Team president Tim Connelly made another of what has been a series of splashy trades, this time sending Naz Reid and draft capital to the Charlotte Hornets for point guard LaMelo Ball. Julius Randle, the team’s second-leading scorer and one of several tenured veterans, was shipped to the Brooklyn Nets. The trades mean the Timberwolves’ identity will shift from one that relied on frontcourt size to trusting a leaner, sleeker team that will need to move the ball, space the floor and run in transition to mitigate its lacking bulk.

The locker room dynamics have also changed. Veterans Kyle Anderson and Mike Conley left in free agency. Trading Reid, the team’s longest-tenured player and an important metronome in the community, stunned the league. Joe Ingles retired from the NBA and is finishing his playing career back home in Australia.

Those departures leave a big hole in the leadership category. Edwards has gotten increasingly more vocal over the years and is stepping it up even more this summer. He has been spending time at the team’s practice facility in Minnesota and taking extra care to make sure Ball feels welcome in his new home. And it was Edwards and Ball, according to team sources who spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on team discussions, who offered to foot the bill for the entire team to fly to Paris for the workouts.

“He’s extremely excited about the (Ball) deal,” Chris Finch told The Athletic at summer league in July. “Now, it’s up to him to take the next step in leadership. His voice has grown intelligently and appropriately over the last few seasons. And now, it’s got to be the combination of the voice plus the everyday presence.”

Edwards and Jaden McDaniels are entering their seventh seasons in Minnesota. They are the Wolves’ longest-tenured players. In the past, they were always surrounded by high-profile veterans such as Karl-Anthony Towns or Randle or savvy mainstays such as Conley and Anderson, who could say what needed to be said in the right moments. Now, Gobert remains as the oldest player on the roster and a real veteran leader, but Edwards and McDaniels will be relied upon even more to use their voices and instincts to push the team to new heights.

Seeing the attendance in Paris is a strong opening statement on their ability to deliver. A photo posted by Ayo Dosunmu and Gobert showed almost the entire roster, including two-way players Zyon Pullin, Enrique Freeman and Rocco Zikarsky. Donte DiVincenzo, who is rehabbing a torn Achilles, and Bones Hyland were the only ones not pictured.

Gathering the team in the summertime for practice and fellowship has become something of a guiding principle for Edwards. Before last season began, he spoke about the importance of spending time together to build the kind of connection that strengthens a team through a long season.

“I think winning starts with being together, and it starts in the summertime, man,” Edwards said at media day last year. “We’ve got to be together. We’ve got to be a team.”

Gobert took pains to have things laid out for his teammates in his home city to make sure they enjoyed their visit while also having all the amenities they needed to make this a work trip. It was his first time being on the court with Ball, and he wanted to make sure that they started to build their chemistry early, a team source said. The Wolves believe Ball’s ability to throw the lob pass will help unlock another aspect of Gobert’s offensive game that has not been used through the first four seasons of his stay in Minnesota.

Will this trip guarantee a deep playoff run next season? No. But it does show the Wolves realize more is required of them than merely showing up for training camp in October. And Edwards is going to make sure they are doing everything they can to make sure the steps this new-look team takes next season are going in the right direction.