Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala recently agreed to return to the Warriors to play out his 19th NBA season. Iguodala, 38, will not play an enormous role for the team this season, but his steady presence and reliable work ethic should help bring out the best in some of his teammates.
Dre has made it clear that this is his last run, but he also explained just how close he got to not coming back this season as well.
“It was a little bit of a rollercoaster because I had a lot of stuff going on this summer,” Iguodala said. “I had a productive summer, so I had jumped back and forth two times, and it’s literally exhausting to jump back and forth. Like, ‘Alright, I’m in,’ then I worked out two times, like hard, and then I was like, ‘For what?’”
“It really got down to like the wire, because I didn’t even know how I was gonna reveal it, because I really didn’t know [I was coming back],” he said. “I got on the Peloton like two times last week and I was like, ‘Ah, I ain’t in that bad a shape.’ And then my son is getting older, he’s my height now, so I had been showing him something on the court. That stuff never leaves. But then, once you’re back on the court, you’re back on the court. It’s almost like I was here yesterday.”
https://twitter.com/ArmstrongWinter/status/1574838423411515392
Nobody would have blamed Andre for going out like this. After 18 productive seasons, he would have retired with a fourth successful championship run. So what was it that brought him back into the fold?
Andre Iguodala Reveals Who Pulled Him Back Into The League
According to Iguodala, it was the combined efforts of Steph, Klay, and Draymond.
“I’m gonna blame a few people. Steph Curry is one person that I’m gonna blame,” Iguodala said on Friday’s edition of Point Forward. “But as a group, I’m blaming Draymond, Steph and Klay, Steve Kerr a little bit, Bob Myers. I think they really just showed me a lot of love. They really helped me see my presence outside of physically playing basketball, but also I think Steve was a big culprit in terms of like, ‘Listen, we really need you on the court,’ and Draymond was big on that as well with the texts.”
The Warriors have always been like a close-knit family, and it makes sense that the guys wouldn’t want Iguodala to retire. After all that they’ve been through together, why not give it one last shot and see if you can bring home a second-straight title?
If not, there will sure to be plenty of lessons learned along the way. Either way, as a nearly 20-year veteran, and 4x champion, Iguodala is clearly more qualified than most to help develop and maintain a championship culture, and that’s exactly what he’ll be doing.
