He currently plays for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Andersen was raised in Iola, Texas where he played one year at Blinn College. He began his professional career in the Chinese Basketball Association and the American minor leagues. He then played in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets and the New Orleans Hornets. The 6 ft 10 in, 245 lb center/power forward was handed down a two-year ban from the NBA in 2006 for violating the league's drug policy, but was reinstated on March 4, 2008 and re-signed with the Hornets the following day. He returned to Denver later in 2008, where he remained until 2012. He signed with the Heat in January 2013.
Andersen is notably the only Blinn student to ever play in the NBA. Andersen is also known for brightly colored tattoos on his arms, chest, neck, back, hands and legs. His first tattoo was given as an eighteenth birthday gift by his mother, who has some body art of her own from her tenure in the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. Andersen's regular tattoo artist, Denver-based John Slaughter, estimates that Andersen has inked 75 percent of his body. He showed off those tattoos in PETA's "Ink Not Mink" ad campaign to protest the fur industry. On May 10, 2012, Denver NBC affiliate 9News reported that Andersen's home was the target of an investigation of a suspected Internet criminal case by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office Internet Crimes Against Children Unit. Andersen was not charged with any crimes. In September 2013, it was revealed that Andersen was the victim of an elaborate hoax.
