New Warriors forward earns unwanted label as likely free agent fizzle

Many have praised the Golden State Warriors offseason who, despite the heart-wrenching departure of franchise legend Klay Thompson, added three valuable players who figure to be key parts of Steve Kerr's rotation going forward.

In the sign-and-trade that sent Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks, the Warriors brought back veterans Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson on what appear to be team-friendly, multi-year contracts.

Not everyone is convinced of the impact veteran forward Kyle Anderson could bring to the Golden State Warriors next season

The addition of Anderson has been applauded by many as someone whose versatile skillset should fit seamlessly into the Golden State system. That's not a totally consensus opinion though, with The Athletic's Kelly Iko critical of the signing during a recent response to key offseason questions.

Iko views the 30-year-old as the most likely free agent to fizzle or be unsuccessful with their new team, stating that "I don’t think Kyle Anderson is the type of player you bring in if you’re trying to extract the maximum from the latter stages of Stephen Curry’s career…"

As Iko outlined, the spacing issues are a genuine concern after a season in which Anderson shot just 22.9% from three-point range with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Yet Iko also refers to the 10-year veteran as some version of a Draymond Green-lite given his point forward skills and versatile defense.

Despite Green's deteriorating shooting over the past six or seven years (aside from last season where he somewhat strangely shot a career-high 39.5%), the 34-year-old has managed to remain effective and important to the Golden State offense in a manner Anderson could also prove to be.

The Warriors will only want their 34-year-old former Defensive Player of the Year to average around 30 minutes per game, leaving 18 minutes for Anderson to step in and play a similar role. There'll also be times where their versatility and IQ will be able to work together as a four-five combination, so long as there's enough shooting from the other three players out on the floor.

Perhaps there's a hope that Anderson can return to the 41% shooter he was in 2022-23 or even just the 36% shooter of 2020-21, but his impact won't be entirely dependant on that occurring. For someone making less than $10 million annually and who's only slated to play 18-22 minutes in a bench role, it's hard to see Anderson's tenure with the Warriors failing in a way Iko suggests.