Andre Iguodala had a long and successful 19-year NBA career and is one of the more respected figures in the basketball community today. Not everyone who was around a young Iguodala thought he would amount to much, though, as he spoke about his basketball journey on Kyrie Irving’s 24-hour live stream.
“Where I come from, nobody made it to the league,” Iguodala said. “So, you don’t really know how good you are. You just know you good for where you at. You had Rod Strickland, your pops was nice. We knew guys were nice, but nobody got outside of like freshman year in college. They all ended up stuck back home.
“They couldn’t cut it academically,” Iguodala continued. “So, there was a mental stunt, like a growth stunt for our athletes. And so, as I got older, that was the one thing. I was like, ‘Yo, I’mma beat the odds for athletes that come from where I come from.’ That’s all I cared about. I went to Arizona because I said, ‘I’m going to go as far away as I can from home, so I can’t come back home.’ That was the whole vision there.”
Iguodala had attended Lanphier High School in Springfield, Illinois, which is where he had grown up. Upon realizing he wasn’t in the right environment for his basketball career, he decided he would go far away from home for college.
Iguodala initially decided he was going to Arkansas, but later changed his mind and headed over to Arizona. He was a very long way away from home, and Irving wondered how big a decision that was.
“I was excited to leave,” Iguodala stated. “Because I was like, ‘Listen, I’mma be the athlete that don’t get stuck back at home.’ That was the whole thing. I had teachers tell me like, ‘Oh, you’re a good basketball player. From here, you’re going to be a loser.’ … Like school teachers.”
Irving asked if that was normal, and Iguodala stated it happened once or twice.
“To have an adult say that to you at 12, 13 is kind of crazy,” Iguodala said. “I even wrote in my book. I was academically further along than being an actual athlete. I was the only Black male in my classes from middle school all the way through. So, teachers would be like, ‘Wait, you sure you’re in the right class?’ on the first day.”
Iguodala won All-Conference academic honors and made the National Honor Roll during his time at Lanphier. He was gifted academically and wasn’t just some dumb athlete.
Iguodala would go on to impress at Arizona, making First-Team All-Pac-10 in 2004. The Philadelphia 76ers would select him with the ninth pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, and he went on to have a career that some believe should get him a spot in the Hall of Fame.
In his 19 seasons in the NBA, Iguodala won four titles and a Finals MVP. He also made one All-Star and two All-Defensive teams. You wonder what those teachers who thought he was going to be a loser would have to say about him now.
Iguodala’s story reminds you of Jaylen Brown’s teacher telling him in 2014 that he’d be in jail in five years. Brown is now an NBA champion and a Finals MVP, who is set to earn over $500 million by the time he retires.
