Kyle Anderson on Timberwolves kerfuffle: 'Seeing how everything is playing out is kind of lame'

LOS ANGELES – Shortly after the Timberwolves beat New Orleans on Sunday, Kyle Anderson said he and Rudy Gobert talked over what happened during a timeout in the second quarter.

During that pause, Anderson had some choice words for Gobert, who then took a swing at his teammate.

According to Anderson, the incident was over then and both were moving on from it, even as the confrontation was all anyone wanted to discuss when it came to the Timberwolves over the next 48 hours.

"We definitely hashed it out," Anderson said at the team's shootaround Tuesday. "That happens all the time in sports. I feel like people are acting like they've never seen it before. We're grown men. We're able to put it behind us. We both want to win."

"We spoke about it that night and just seeing how everything is playing out is kind of lame, honestly. We're teammates at the end of the day. I don't want it to be a Kyle vs. Rudy thing. That's never the case. I always got my teammates' back, and we moved on."

But the Wolves had to move without Gobert for Tuesday's play-in matchup against the Lakers after the team suspended Gobert for the game following Sunday's incident.

President Tim Connelly said Gobert took the suspension well and that he and others in the organization agreed to impose it because, as Connelly put it, "We're trying to be an elite organization and trying to hold ourselves to elite standards."

The decision came even after Gobert and Anderson quickly made amends, Connelly said.

"Both Rudy and Kyle, they were not proud of what happened on the bench," Connelly said. "They're actually pretty close. They were embarrassed. Both vets and knew the moment got the best of them. Rudy has been great in the wake of that. Obviously he wished he could've taken back his actions."

But guard Mike Conley suggested what happened Sunday could actually be a positive for the Wolves moving forward. He said over the past 48 hours the "vibes" around the team were "great."

"People can say what they want to say, but stuff that goes on like what happened, what we went through two days ago can send a team in two different directions," Conley said. "I think we went in the direction of getting closer."

Conley, who said the incident was stressful at the time, said Anderson and Gobert were both willing to forgive and move on from what happened.

"When people are grown enough to do that, mature enough to do that in the right space and in the right environment, that molds teams together," Conley said. "That molds players together. You become closer. That's what basically happened."

Anderson added that he and Gobert have always been close and what happened Sunday didn't change that. Conley said incidents like what happened Sunday can happen often on a team behind the closed doors of a practice away from cameras. Sunday's blow-up had the bad timing of coming during a heated game.

"We always argue, we fight, we push, we shove. It's part of this game," Conley said. "It's part of the nature of being competitive. When everybody sees it and it's out in the open, it becomes a whirlwind for everybody to just make up whatever they want to make up, say what they think happened: 'These guys hate each other.' No, it's none of that. It's literally a moment in time and we passed through that moment and we're moving on.

The more concerning absence for the Wolves moving forward is that of forward Jaden McDaniels, the team's best perimeter defender, who broke two bones in his right hand after punching a wall in a tunnel near the team's bench on Sunday.

"Jaden is disappointed in himself," Connelly said. "He's bummed. He's obviously I think a little embarrassed, but like any moment, it's a teachable moment. He's going to grow from it.

"He's a great guy. I think he's going to develop into a great player. Emotional control is something we have to be better at across the board. We saw the other night what happened when you're not in control emotionally."