Kyle Anderson is becoming somewhat of a sex symbol around the Twin Cities. Slomosexuals are taking over the Target Center every time Anderson slithers to the basket or strips the ball from Luka Doncic or takes half the shot clock to release his shot. Rudy Gobert was the splashy off-season move, but signing Kyle Anderson for $18 million over two years is maybe the only reason Tim Connelly hasn’t been run out of town. As good as Anthony Edwards has been to keep the Minnesota Timberwolves alive in the playoff hunt, Anderson is the key to keeping things humming when it looked like the engine was about to blow early in the season.
Like the basketball gentleman that he is, Anderson took things slow when he first got with the Timberwolves. He started coming off the bench behind Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Jaden McDaniels in the frontcourt, tending to the needs of the team before his own. He averaged a workman-like 6.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game across his first 16 games in Minnesota, but the Wolves were only 6-10 in games he suited up for.
Things went from bad to worse when Towns went down with a calf injury at the end of November, crippling a struggling team that was suddenly missing one of their All-NBA centers. Anderson slipped into the starting lineup, and although it took a while to get the rhythm down, Slomo finally figured out the winning tempo. Since KAT went down, Anderson has started 29 of the 31 games he’s been healthy for. Anderson is averaging 9.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in those games, leading the Wolves to an impressive 19-12 record when in the lineup, placing them squarely in the playoff race.
Now the roles may be getting reversed in time for the playoff push. Towns is reportedly nearing his return sometime after the All-Star break, and Chris Finch may be easing his re-entry into the lineup by shifting things around before the break. Anderson came off the bench against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday for the first time since December 3. Some saw the move as just a way to rest a guy with a bad back, others saw the move as a test run with Anderson leading the bench unit upon KAT’s return to the starting lineup.
Whichever way you look at it, the results on Monday were pretty promising for Anderson’s new role with the second unit. Slomo scored 12 points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out five assists, and had two steals including a key pickpocket on Luka Dončić in Minnesota’s 124-121 win over the Mavs. He, along with the recent return of Jordan McLaughlin from an actual calf strain, is welcomed news for the Timberwolves, who struggled with playmaking over the last two months. They often had to stagger Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell so someone could run the offense with the second unit.
Now, Anderson and JMac can keep the ball moving and Taurean Prince, Naz Reid, and Jaylen Nowell can focus on scoring. Anderson can also reinvigorate the defense off the bench that has so often given up leads in the second and third quarters. He’s got the best defensive RAPTOR and defensive rating of anyone on the Timberwolves who have played significant time this season (and hasn’t won three DPOY trophies in their careers). He and JMac can guard 1-4 and should stabilize the bench when he’s on the court.
It won’t be all roses and Prince B-sides for Anderson when Towns gets back. The pairing of Gobert at the 5 and Anderson at the 4 has reinvented Minnesota’s defense this season. The Wolves give up 102.9 points per 100 possessions when Rudy and Kyle share the court this season. He won’t be playing alongside Gobert nearly as much when Towns returns. And he’ll have to learn how to play in a smaller lineup with Reid at the 5, who is nowhere near the defensive stalwart that Gobert is.
Although he’s been shooting nearly 10 percentage points above his career average from three this season, Anderson’s eventual regression could spell disaster for a bench unit that’s struggled to shoot the ball this season. Nowell and McLaughlin are shooting under 30 percent from deep, Austin Rivers and Naz are hovering just below league average, and only Taurean Prince is pulling his weight, shooting just under 40 percent from beyond the arc. Clearly, Towns should help the overall shooting of the team even though he had his own struggles when healthy. However, should Anderson fall back to his usual 34 percent, things could get ugly with the reserves chucking up brick after brick.
There’s no guarantee that any of this rotation reshuffling will actually amount to anything. Towns has missed 39 games and counting with no official timetable for his return. But if and eventually when Towns returns, Kyle Anderson will make a huge impact coming off the bench for the playoff push.
