MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 Kyle Anderson\u2019s first box score back in a Minnesota Timberwolves uniform wasn\u2019t anything to get excited about. He did not take a shot, grabbed one rebound, hit two free throws and was a minus-five in 14 minutes against the Memphis Grizzlies.<\/p>\n
One thing you won\u2019t see when checking the stats from Minnesota\u2019s 117-110 win? The standing ovation Anderson received when he checked into the game with 2:16 left in the first quarter. He may be averaging just 7.2 points and appeared in only 25 games this season for the Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies and the Wolves, but everyone in Minnesota understands what he brings to the table because they have all seen it before.<\/p>\n
He played some of the best basketball of his career in two seasons with the Wolves from 2022-24, playing a big role in the team\u2019s run to the Western Conference finals in 2024. It is not often a player who joins a team from the buyout market, as Anderson did this week when he reunited with the Wolves after being waived by the Grizzlies, provides a major impact on a team that goes deep into the playoffs. But the Wolves believe Anderson can play a significant role with a team that has had issues finding consistency this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very comfortable, I think, in what he can do and how he fits into us,\u201d Wolves coach Chris Finch said. \u201cWe need more connectors, more playmakers. We\u2019ll put the ball in his hands. We\u2019ll treat him like a point guard. Defensively, he gives us versatility, switching, intelligence. He\u2019s a great quarterback of the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony Edwards put on a show<\/a> in Tuesday\u2019s win over Memphis, scoring 41 points and getting five steals in Minnesota\u2019s fourth straight victory. But the vibes in the arena, particularly in the locker room, shifted more noticeably with Anderson back in the building. Edwards is the star. Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid join him at the center of the Wolves\u2019 young core. Julius Randle is the wing man. Rudy Gobert, Donte DiVincenzo and Ayo Dosunmu are the veteran role players. But Anderson and Mike Conley, the other veteran whose exit from the Timberwolves<\/a> was much shorter than Anderson\u2019s, hold a special influence and place in this team\u2019s rise from the NBA gutter to contender status. Now that they are both back, the team feels whole again.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to win a championship, and having those guys, I think they\u2019re part of our culture and part of our DNA,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cThey deserve to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Anderson is returning to the team, and coach, who have appreciated his unique skill set more than any other stop in his 12-year career. There is nothing conventional about Anderson\u2019s game, including his don\u2019t-try-this-at-home shooting motion, a transmission that never reaches fourth gear and his point guard brain in a small forward\u2019s body.<\/p>\n There are a million aesthetic reasons to be skeptical of Anderson\u2019s ability to contribute on a winning team. But Finch, as much as any other coach in the league, has always looked below the surface with Anderson to understand how he can make an impact. Before the game, Finch said that his respect for Anderson\u2019s game goes back to a practice Finch saw at UCLA when Anderson was a freshman.<\/p>\n \u201cHe played point guard there a lot in practice. You could see,\u201d Finch said.\u201dHe just thinks the game like a point guard. He\u2019s used to having the ball in his hands. He makes his teammates better. It was natural for me to just kind of lean into that.\u201d<\/p>\n And lean, he did. Anderson played 28.4 minutes per game in 2022-23, the second-highest average of his career. He also started 46 games while Karl-Anthony Towns was out with an injury. In his second season in Minnesota, he remained a crucial component of the second unit, serving as a Swiss Army knife while quarterbacking the offense against zone defenses and helping stabilize the frontcourt defense when Gobert was off the floor, all while dealing with the after-effects of a serious eye injury.<\/p>\n Anderson felt valued in Minnesota, one of the reasons he spurned other interested contenders to come back to the Timberwolves. He had so much success in his first stint here that he priced himself out of the team\u2019s plans. Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly helped facilitate a sign-and-trade with Golden State to maximize Anderson\u2019s money, getting him a three-year, $27 million deal.<\/p>\n But Anderson played only sparingly for the Warriors in 36 games last season before he was traded to Miami. He played 25 games for the Heat and then was traded to Utah. The Jazz were in a rebuilding situation and prioritized young players and draft position over winning games, which wasn\u2019t the right place for Anderson, either.<\/p>\n He spoke highly of the people and teammates he spent time with over the last few seasons, but there seemed to be something missing at every step along the way. Now that he is back with the team that values his talent and his leadership, he is ready to resume contributing to winning basketball.<\/p>\n \u201cJust playing for a few teams where I feel like they didn\u2019t see it, it sucks,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cI was with a lot of young guys in Utah and in Memphis, and they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, I could be in another situation.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018The grass ain\u2019t always greener.\u2019 So, wherever you\u2019re loved, you\u2019ve got to make the most out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Anderson said Finch ranks at the top of his list of coaches he has played for in his career in terms of the match between player and coach. On a list that includes Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr, that is no small statement.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I was fortunate enough to play for a few coaches \u2014 Coach Spo, Taylor Jenkins, Coach Pop, Finchy \u2014 just as far as understanding my value and skill set,\u201d he said. \u201cThen, it kind of sucks when you play for a coach that doesn\u2019t understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n Anderson\u2019s influence extended into the locker room, where the no-nonsense New Jersey native was one of the team\u2019s biggest truth-tellers, confronting people who needed to be confronted and backing them when they needed backing. That could make for some volatile moments, like the time Gobert punched Anderson on the bench in the final game of the 2022-23 regular season, forcing the Wolves to suspend Gobert for a Play-In game against the Lakers. But the two proud veterans ended up becoming close friends after that moment and helped power the Wolves to the Western Conference finals the following season.<\/p>\n Gobert was among the most thrilled when news spread of Anderson\u2019s return.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen things get difficult, we\u2019ve been through a lot with Kyle,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been through ups and downs, collectively and individually. That\u2019s someone that I care about. As a team, I think everyone in this locker room has a lot of respect for Kyle.\u201d<\/p>\n On the day the Wolves agreed to terms to get Anderson back, Edwards FaceTimed him from the team bus on the way to play the LA Clippers. He knows the Wolves need Anderson\u2019s basketball IQ, defensive acumen and professionalism to help keep them focused as they try to climb the playoff standings in the West. With 20 games left in the regular season, it\u2019s time to lock in, and Anderson can help with that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was super fun for me, because when he played with me two years ago and he always gave me easy shots, backdoors, dribble handoffs,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cHe just knows the game. He\u2019s just got a feel for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n As familiar as this all feels, Anderson is being very careful about how he reintegrates to the group. The coaching staff is almost fully intact from the last time he was here. He has deep relationships with more than a handful of players. But there have also been significant changes since he left. Karl-Anthony Towns is gone. He has only played one game with Randle, DiVincenzo or Dosunmu. The last thing he wants to do is resume his role as a locker room leader before he gets to know the new faces.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether that\u2019s not playing, or I\u2019m on the court, whatever it is, just whatever happened in the past, we\u2019re going to leave that there and try to figure out a way to get to where we want to be,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n One thing is clear after the very first game: Anderson is going to be on the court down the stretch. The Timberwolves did not bring him back to sit and watch. They won a battle with division rival Denver for his services, with Connelly spending extended time talking with Anderson\u2019s agent to let him know much they wanted him back. In the Wolves\u2019 eyes, convincing him to return validated everything they have built.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Kyle, it feels good that A) he had such a great experience here, B) he went on and was rewarded for that experience financially, which we always root for, and C) he wanted to come back because he enjoyed being here, and his family enjoyed being here,\u201d Finch said. \u201cThe circle is complete in that regard, and hopefully we can all benefit from it in these last 20 games and in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n The ironic thing is that Anderson was going to be in Target Center on Tuesday night either way. Had he remained with the Grizzlies, he would have been back and catching up with all the Wolves folks he\u2019s known for years now. But Memphis is starting a rebuild of its own, and he knows that, at 32 years old, Minnesota is where he belongs right now.<\/p>\n The last time Anderson was in a Wolves uniform, they were summarily dismissed by the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the 2024 Western Conference finals. Now that they\u2019re all back together, there is some unfinished business to attend to.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the first thing me and Mike, me and Rudy, me and Ant, that\u2019s what we spoke about when I ended up signing,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThey called me right away before the Clippers game and spoke about it. It\u2019s definitely exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 Kyle Anderson\u2019s first box score back in a Minnesota Timberwolves uniform wasn\u2019t anything to get excited…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[11951,355,99],"class_list":["post-505674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}