For the second time in a little over a week, the Minnesota Timberwolves will have a reunion with one of their former players. While Mike Conley was only off the Timberwolves for a couple of weeks, it has been nearly two years since Kyle Anderson was a member of the team.
That will change as it has been announced that the Memphis Grizzlies will buy out Anderson, and he will join the Timberwolves once he clears waivers. Once back with the team, there is a good chance that he will take the minutes away from the struggling Terrence Shannon Jr.
Kyle Anderson's return could move
When it comes to having the higher offensive ceiling, the 25-year-old Shannon Jr. or the 32-year-old Anderson, most would probably choose the former. The problem is that TSJ hasn’t realized his ceiling probably since last year’s Western Conference finals. In most other areas, such as rebounding, playmaking, and defense, Anderson is seen as the better player.
It has been a disappointing second season for Shannon Jr., both on the court and on the injury front. The 27th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft missed 25 consecutive games from late December to mid-February with a left foot injury.
After not leaving the bench in his first game back, TSJ has played in the last three games. Last night, in a close victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, he played just four minutes, all in the second quarter, and picked up twos fouls. The previous outing, Shannon Jr. only saw six minutes of floor time, and he made just one field goal in 18 minutes during his first outing back from injury.
Right now, Shannon Jr. appears to be in the rotation, but barely. There is a strong possibility of that changing once Anderson arrives. With Minnesota off until Sunday afternoon, perhaps "Slo Mo" can be in uniform by then, but if not, he will be soon after.
Now in his 12th NBA season, Anderson played for the Timberwolves in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Mostly utilized as a starter his first year, he came off the bench more so in 2023-24, but still played a large role on a team that reached the conference finals.
Traded in the 2024 offseason, Anderson should receive a nice ovation the next time that he first steps onto the Target Center court in a game (next home game is next Tuesday against the Memphis Grizzlies team that just bought him out).
Injuries have limited Slo Mo to 24 games this season with the Utah Jazz and Memphis, but he possesses solid averages of 7.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.2 steals. He has also been way more efficient than Shannon Jr., who is shooting under 40 percent from the field this season.
Give credit to Tim Connelly and the front office for improving a known weakness throughout the season. All year, production has been hard to come by from the bench, other than Naz Reid. Since acquiring Ayo Dosunmu via trade and now adding Anderson, maybe they still won’t be seen as having one of the better groups of reserves, but it’s certainly a much better group than they had earlier this season.