For most of his NBA career, Kyle Anderson has been playing for a contender.
The 30th overall pick out of UCLA in 2014 who was celebrated for his throwback, borderline positionless “Slo Mo” style of play, Anderson has been to the postseason in eight of his first 11 seasons in the NBA, with a ninth run in Year 12 almost guaranteed after signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves after being bought out of his contract by the Memphis Grizzlies.
And yet, for about half of a season, Anderson played on a team that was decidedly not a contender. No, during his run with the Utah Jazz, the team actually went out of their way to make sure they didn't get the W at the end of the contest, resulting in players like Anderson getting limited runs and DNPs in order to avoid any upset wins.
Discussing what it was like to play for the Jazz with reporters on Tuesday, Anderson noted that while he liked everyone in Utah, he wasn't a huge fan of their lose-first mentality, as he prefers to go all-out in pursuit of a win.
“I don't even want to get into it, honestly. I had a lot of fun in the organization, and everybody in the organization was awesome,” Anderson said. “Obviously, you know, playing not-to-win games gets a little tricky and tough. I didn't enjoy it personally, but, you know, the staff, the players, I love the players. The staff is really cool, the people in the organization are awesome. Nothing bad to say about that.”
While the Jazz have been out of the playoff picture for years now, ever since they traded away Rudy Gobert and then Donovan Mitchell after deciding said pairing had reached its ceiling, Utah really doesn't have the premier homegrown players to show for their efforts, with the team failing to land a top-3 pick in the last decade.
Fortunately, they hit a home run with the Lauri Markkanen trade and have pushed more chips to the center of the table by acquiring Jaren Jackson Jr. before the trade deadline, so who knows? Maybe they'll be back to playing the brand of basketball Anderson likes as soon as next season.
