The peak of Timberwolves basketball came two seasons ago. Fifty-six regular season wins, the best defense in the NBA — by a long shot — and a standard of excellence that was met far more often than not.
Minnesota’s Game 7 rally past Denver in the Western Conference semifinals is forever seared into the minds of its fan base.
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Its Game 2 dominance still resonates with basketball junkies near and far, as the Rudy Gobert-less Wolves held the Nuggets to just 80 points on 35% shooting on a night where defense became cool again.
Nikola Jokic was held in check to the tune of 16 points on 5-for-13 shooting. His primary defender that night? Kyle Anderson, who stripped the League MVP multiple times while also tallying nine rebounds and eight assists.
Minnesota was in imminent danger of being swept by Dallas in the ensuing Western Conference Finals. Trailing 3-0 in the series, the Wolves led Game 4 by two with five minutes to play.
Anderson had been begging Anthony Edwards to make the skip pass to the open corner shooter throughout the game.
This time, he decided to intervene.
Karl-Anthony Towns, who had just drilled a triple the possession prior, was standing on the wing as the play developed. Anderson waved and clapped his hands to get the big man’s attention and direct him to the corner.
At this point, Edwards had taken a few probing dribbles to get near the paint on the opposite side.
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“He’s out there. I was dribbling the ball,” Edwards recalled at the time. “I damn sure was about to shoot it.”
Until he made eye contact with Anderson, who was vehemently waving in Towns’ direction. That was where the ball needed to go.
Edwards obliged, passing it over the top of the defense to Towns in the corner. Anderson used his body to prevent Dallas guard Kyrie Irving from entering Towns’ air space, and Towns buried another triple to put the Wolves up by five en route to victory.
“Kyle made that play happen,” Towns said at the time. “He made a lot of plays happen.”
Perhaps more than anyone could have realized at the time.
Something is missing
Minnesota hasn’t been as good a basketball team since that magical 2023-24 campaign. The Wolves frequently rely more on their raw ability to deliver wins over process and execution.
While the ceiling remains the same in the minds of many, the inconsistent outcomes are a byproduct of the approach. Despite being one of the healthiest teams in the NBA this season, Minnesota still finds itself in the middle of the Western Conference playoff picture, sparring with teams either not as good or not as healthy — and, in some cases, both.
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Minnesota currently ranks outside the top eight in the NBA in defensive, offensive and net ratings. None of it screams championship contention.
Gone are the nightly displays of suffocating defense, a direct result of talented personnel, commitment to execution and hoops IQ merging at a glorious basketball crossroads to produce a defensive force no foe could replicate on that end, or withstand on the other.
The Wolves will sporadically summon the energy to crank the intensity level up to 10 for special occasions, but they no longer evoke joy from making their opponents’ evenings a living hell for 48 minutes on the floor.
Not a lot has changed roster-wise between then and now, at least in the NBA realm. Gone are Karl-Anthony Towns and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, here are Donte DiVincenzo, Julius Randle and a host of young players.
The core largely remains intact, but the feeling is different. The edge, the professionalism, the unity and the joy have all frayed just enough to lower Minnesota from truly elite to maybe just good.
Perhaps an old, familiar face is crafty enough to mend upon his arrival.
Minnesota is set to sign Anderson after he clears waivers following the forward’s buyout from Memphis.
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NBA: Memphis Grizzlies at Denver Nuggets
Memphis Grizzlies forward Kyle Anderson (5) defends Denver Nuggets center Jonas Valanciunas (17) in the fourth quarter at Ball Arena in Denver on Feb. 11, 2026.
Isaiah J. Downing / Imagn Images
The antidote?
The Timberwolves didn’t have the available salary cap space to bring him back in the summer of 2024, so they did a sign-and-trade deal with Golden State, starting an odyssey with numerous NBA stops that has led Anderson back to Minnesota.
His lack of playing time and impact at recent stops in Golden State, Miami and Utah will lead many to assume a reversion to past Wolves’ form isn’t in the cards, but don’t be so sure. Opportunity didn’t exist in those situations, for one reason or another. Fit is a fickle mistress in the NBA. But Anderson’s production didn’t depart from the forward’s career-long norms.
He’s still a versatile defender who can play at a high level. Following the 2024 campaign, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch was asked how Minnesota could lessen the burden on aging point guard Mike Conley. He pointed to Edwards … and Anderson.
“We’ve got to get a better package around him, whether he’s at the one, whether he’s at the three,” Finch said at the time. “I think we can run more offense through him.”
If that remains true, it would be a salve for the Wolves, whose offense too frequently features only two options: transition or isolation. Finch’s offensive system demands unselfishness and improvisation. Often, players prove themselves either unwilling or unable to execute it.
During his previous Wolves tenure, Anderson was afforded the freedom to direct traffic.
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“He’s just so smart. He finds the right spaces, he gets the ball to the right people. Handling, screening, he’s play-calling,” Finch said two years ago. “Yeah, I mean, it’s something.”
With Conley officially aging out of a role and no real answer having developed to replace him, those qualities are more important than ever for Minnesota. It’s one void the forward could potentially fill for 15-plus minutes a night on a team that could use an eighth guy to solidify its playoff rotation.
Minnesota is operating under the assumption it’s getting the same guy who departed two years ago, and will adjust accordingly upon Anderson’s arrival.
Certainly, 15 minutes a game isn’t enough to elevate an entire unit from good to great, but Anderson’s past impact extended far beyond his on-court contributions. The Wolves have veteran leaders, but none as vocal as Anderson, who was willing to call out anyone, anytime, anywhere within the team setting.
If you didn’t deliver consistently on the effort and execution fronts, he’d tell you about it. And, well, this year’s team isn’t exactly the U.S. Postal Service. Halftime or postgame butt chewings may no longer fall solely at the feet of Finch.
It’s not easy to enter a locker room mid-season and take leadership reins, but the task is more palatable when the situation is so familiar. Anderson knows these faces, and they know, love and respect his voice. A year after inciting a mid-game punch from Rudy Gobert, Anderson and the big man became as close as any two players on the team.
On many rosters, Anderson’s impact would probably be marginal at best. Perhaps that will ultimately be the case here, as well, but there’s a reasonable chance it will be more. And Minnesota needs it to be.
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Because, somewhere along the way, the Wolves lost their soul. Maybe Anderson — and his rare concoction of accountability, acumen and attitude — can help them find it.
For what ails these Timberwolves, Anderson may just be the antidote.
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