Kyle Anderson spent two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves and was part of their run to the Western Conference finals in 2024. In July of 2024, he was involved in a six-team deal that saw Klay Thompson leave the Golden State Warriors for the Dallas Mavericks.
He has been traded twice more since, including last offseason (along with another former Timberwolves player, Kevin Love) to the Utah Jazz. It was assumed by many that both would either be bought out or traded instead of being rostered by an Utah team far from contention.
Both have remained with the Jazz for now. Love has had his fair share of moments of productive play for Utah this season. Now 32 years old, Anderson had his best performance of the season, one that isn’t seen often by the current version of the Timberwolves’ bench.
Anderson scores 22 points on Thursday
The Jazz couldn’t end the Los Angeles Clippers' five-game winning streak (now six) on Thursday night, falling by the score of 118-101. The loss dropped Utah to 12-21, 1.5 games out of a play-in spot.
Shoutout to Kyle Anderson, though, who was the best player for the Jazz in the outing. In 31:40 of game action, the 6-foot-8 forward led the team with 22 points (8-10 from the field, 6-7 from the foul line) to go along with 8 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. Anderson was a plus-7, meaning that Utah was outscored by 24 points in the 16:20 he didn’t play.
It was just Slo-Mo’s 10th appearance on the season, as he has missed time this year with back and knee ailments. Anderson has performed well in his brief time with Utah, though, averaging 8.2 points (54.2 percent field goal shooting), 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.5 steals in 19.3 minutes.
The Timberwolves' bench has been unproductive
In his two years with the Timberwolves, Anderson started 46 games in 2022-23 before taking more of a reserve role in the next year (10 starts).
During their 2024 playoff run to the conference finals, Anderson averaged 15.4 minutes in his 15 postseason games. Always a strong passer in his career, he has an assist-to-turnover ratio well over 3 in both regular seasons with Minnesota.
Right now, the Wolves would love to see anyone other than Naz Reid come up with a performance off the bench that Anderson just had. Right now, the highest-scoring appearance off the bench by a Timberwolves player, not including Reid, is Terrence Shannon Jr. with 18.
Undoubtedly, the Wolves could use some extra bench production, and they're missing Anderson's well-rounded skill set. Perhaps a reunion could be in the cards.