For most of his NBA career, Kyle Anderson has played as a contender.
Drafted 30th overall out of UCLA in 2014, celebrated for his throwback, borderline positionless "slow mo" style of play, Anderson has been to the postseason in eight of his first 11 seasons in the NBA, almost guaranteed a ninth run in Year 12 after signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves after being bought out of his contract by the Memphis Grizzlies.
And yet, for nearly half the 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 he didn't get a W at the end of the contest, resulting in players like Anderson getting limited runs and DNPs to avoid any upset wins.
While discussing what it was like playing for the Jazz with reporters on Tuesday, Anderson said that although he likes everyone at Utah, he is not a big fan of their lose-first mentality, as he prefers to do everything possible in the pursuit of a win.
Anderson said, "Honestly, I didn't want to join. I really enjoyed the organization and everyone in the organization was amazing." "Obviously, you know, playing games without wins gets a little tougher and tougher. I personally didn't enjoy it, but, you know, the staff, the players, I love the players. The staff is really good, the guys in the organization are amazing. Nothing bad to say about it."
While the Jazz have been out of the playoff picture for several years now, ever since they traded Rudy Gobert and then Donovan Mitchell after deciding that the duo had reached their peak, Utah hasn't really had dominant homegrown players to show for their efforts, with the team failing to crack the top-3 over the past decade.
Luckily, they hit a home run with the Lauri Markkanen trade and have pushed more chips into the center of the table by acquiring Jaren Jackson Jr. before the trade deadline, so who knows? Maybe they'll be back to playing Anderson's favorite brand of basketball next season.
