Kyle Anderson discusses whirlwind of trade to Heat: ‘I underestimated it.’ Also, Bam available
The Miami Heat wasn’t initially supposed to end up with veteran forward Kyle Anderson. For around 16 hours, Anderson knew he was on the move as part of the Jimmy Butler trade but just didn’t know which team he would land with.
The initial Butler trade agreed to on the night of Feb. 5 had Anderson going to the Toronto Raptors. However, that part of the deal quickly fell through and Anderson found himself in limbo after beginning the season with the Golden State Warriors.
“The day the trade went down, I heard Detroit, I heard Toronto,” Anderson recalled, “and then I just kind of shut everything off and told me agent, ‘Call me in the morning and let me know what team we’re going to.’”
Anderson had just one important stipulation, as he waited to see where his next NBA home would be.
“I just wanted to make sure I was going somewhere where I’m appreciated and wanted,” Anderson said. “I didn’t want to go somewhere where the front office doesn’t really want me. So yeah, I just wanted to get on top of that.”
The next morning on Feb. 6 — the day of the NBA’s trade deadline — Anderson’s agent informed him that he would be headed to the Heat as part of the five-team Butler trade. The Heat acquired Andrew Wiggins, Anderson and a top-10 protected 2025 first-round pick from the Warriors and Davion Mitchell from the Raptors in return for Butler.
Heat brass made sure to let Anderson know they valued his game and wanted him. Heat president Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra called Anderson to deliver that message.
“That meant a lot,” Anderson said before the Heat opened a four-game homestand on Wednesday night against the Atlanta Hawks at Kaseya Center. “Just letting me know they were happy to have me. That’s all I needed to hear. I didn’t want to go somewhere where I wasn’t really wanted.”
Anderson, 31, is needed by the Heat right now, too.
In the wake of Nikola Jovic’s hand injury, Anderson is among the top options to fill Jovic’s spot in the Heat’s bench rotation.
“Kyle has been a winner and a winning player in this league for a while,” Spoelstra said. “He has played on a lot of good teams. I think that’s for good reason. He’s a unique player. So if you try to fit him into a traditional box, that’s not the type of player that he is. He’s a little bit unorthodox. But his skill set is pretty diverse. That’s the part that intrigues me. Defensively, he can do a lot of things, guard multiple positions. But offensively, his ability to handle and his IQ for the game and his ability to make the game easier for other guys is something that I think this team can use.”
Without Jovic for the first time since he fractured his shooting hand, the Heat turned to Anderson to fill most of his minutes in Monday’s 98-86 loss to the Hawks at State Farm Arena.
Anderson, who has two more seasons left on his contract after this season, closed Monday’s defeat with 14 points, five rebounds and two assists in 28 minutes. It marked the most minutes that Anderson has played over his first five appearances with the Heat since he was dealt to Miami.
“I feel like I can do a lot on the floor,” said Anderson, who goes by the nickname “Slow-Mo” for the deliberate pace that he plays at. “We have a lot of scoring out there, a lot of guys who can put the ball through the basket – Wiggs, Tyler [Herro], Duncan [Robinson]. So with the game that I’ve always had, just being a facilitator, being aggressive, making plays, making plays on the defensive end.”
Anderson has moved around throughout his career, as the Heat is the fifth different team that he has played for during his 11 NBA seasons. But the trade to the Heat marked the first time that Anderson has changed teams in the middle of a season.
With Anderson’s wife and 5-year-old son staying in California until the end of the school year, Anderson has been forced to make that mid-season adjustment alone.
“It was a big one,” Anderson said of the whirlwind since the trade to the Heat. “I underestimated it, getting traded. I salute anybody that’s been traded multiple times in this league. There was just a lot going on with my experience in Golden State, then getting traded to a new team, not being with my family, being alone. It’s only been a few days and obviously Miami is a great city, but it still has some type of effect on you.”
INJURY REPORT
The Heat listed three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo (right calf contusion) as questionable for Wednesday’s home game against the Hawks. He has missed just two games so far this season — a Jan. 13 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers because of a lower back contusion and a Feb. 13 loss to the Dallas Mavericks because of a left knee contusion.
“I don’t know,” Adebayo said after Wednesday’s morning shootaround when asked whether he expects to play Wednesday night against the Hawks. “I always hate hearing questions about my status of playing a game. So we’re going to figure it out and we’re going to see.”
But after Adebayo tested his injured calf during his usual pregame warm up, the Heat announced that he’s available to play on Wednesday against the Hawks.
However, the Heat ruled out Josh Christopher (G League), Keshad Johnson (G League), Jovic (broken right hand), Dru Smith (Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League).
The Hawks will be without Kobe Bufkin (right shoulder surgery), Jalen Johnson (left shoulder surgery), Vit Krejci (lumbar fracture), Larry Nance Jr. (right medial femoral condyle fracture) and Daeqwon Plowden (G League) against the Heat.
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 12:21 PM.
