Spurs bring back Anderson to fill void left by Leonard, Jackson
James Anderson averaged 3.7 points in two seasons with the Spurs. (Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)
By Rob Mahoney
The San Antonio Spurs and 23-year-old swingman James Anderson have only been apart for a few months, but free agency couldn't stand in the way of this star-cross'd pair. According to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, the Spurs have re-signed Anderson after originally declining his third-year team option back in January. This is largely in response to a recent string of injuries that left the Spurs short-handed on the perimeter. Now, Anderson will get the extended tryout he should have had all along, and a renewed opportunity to live up to his promise as a scorer for one of the best developmental franchises in basketball.
Anderson was never able to find his footing in San Antonio the first time around, but there was enough of a baseline -- in terms of familiarity and role -- for the Spurs to bring him back once injuries to Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson put the team in a bind. Essentially, this is the most polite way that Gregg Popovich could possibly express his lack of confidence in rookie guard Nando de Colo, who hasn't done all that much to impress in his non-garbage time minutes to date. The Spurs are still fairly deep in the wings even after we except de Colo, but they could nonetheless use Anderson to fill out a shortened rotation shared by Manu Ginobili, Gary Neal and Danny Green.
