Kyle Anderson headed to Warriors via a sign-and-trade

Free agent forward Kyle Anderson is headed to the Warriors via a sign-and-trade transaction with the Timberwolves, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. He’ll be signing a three-year, $27M contract. The third year is non-guaranteed, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets.

The Timberwolves will receive a future second-round pick swap and cash in the sign-and-trade, Wojnarowski adds.

He’ll slot into the $16M traded player exception created in the Klay Thompson three-team deal with Dallas and Charlotte. This puts the Warriors $3.2M below the $170.8M luxury tax line with 13 players rostered, cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets.

It had been speculated that Anderson, always a solid role player, would be difficult for Minnesota to retain due its salary-cap issues. The Timberwolves are a second apron team, severely limiting their flexibility. And the Timberwolves won’t be able to use the TPE generated by the Anderson sign-and-trade because of the restrictions for second apron teams under the current CBA.

Rated No. 30 on our list of Top 50 free agents, Anderson will jump right into the Warriors’ rotation. He appeared in 79 regular season games last season, including 10 starts, averaging 6.9 points and 4.2 rebounds in 22.6 minutes.

He’s highly regarded for his defensive versatility and intangibles but doesn’t add much offensively. He’s averaged double digits in points just once in a career that began in the 2014-15 season. Anderson is a 33.8% career three-point shooter.