Derek Anderson

Club

_Retired Basketball

Position

Guard/Forward

Nationality

United States

Date of birth

1974-07-18

Birthplace

Louisville, Kentucky

Height

6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)

Weight

220 lb (100 kg)

Shirt number

1

Derek Lamont Anderson (born July 18, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player.

Anderson is a graduate of Doss High School and was a Kentucky All-Star. Anderson played college basketball at the Ohio State University and the University of Kentucky. In 1996, Anderson helped the University of Kentucky win the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship as part of a team that featured nine future NBA players under their coach Rick Pitino. Anderson went on to graduate from the University of Kentucky in 1997 with a degree in pharmacy.

He was first selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers as the 13th overall pick to the 1997 NBA Draft, despite missing much of his second senior season at Kentucky due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). He played for Cleveland from 1997–1999. On Aug. 4, 1999 he was traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers along with Johnny Newman to the L.A. Clippers for Lamond Murray. Anderson was ranked 7th in the NBA in free throw percentage (.877) in 1999–2000.

Anderson's NBA career was plagued by injuries. In the 2004–2005 season he only played in 8 of the final 42 games for the Portland Trail Blazers, and missed similar numbers of games in prior seasons. On August 3, 2005, he was the first player in the league waived using the so-called "luxury tax amnesty clause" of the 2005 NBA collective bargaining agreement. He would sign with the Houston Rockets as a free agent before being traded to the Miami Heat in exchange for Gerald Fitch. The heat would win the 2006 NBA Finals in six games after defeating the Dallas Mavericks to give Anderson his first championship.

Anderson was waived by Heat on September 12, 2006, prior to the beginning of the 2006–07 season. Several weeks later, on November 28, he signed with the Charlotte Bobcats.