Getty Coach George Karl looks on during a 2012 game between the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors.
Old wounds have been opened up with the Golden State Warriors drawing the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. All week, fans in both the Mile High City and the Bay Area have been sounding off on what occurred during a 2013 series between the clubs, with each group accusing the other’s team of chicanery.
They’re not the only ones who have been chirping, though. For his part, former Nuggets coach and soon-to-be Hall of Famer George Karl is firing shots of his own.
On Wednesday, Karl put out a tweet pushing an old hardwood conspiracy theory. Specifically, he posited that Dubs forward Andre Iguodala — then a member of the Nuggets — acted as a mole for Golden State in the series.
“Maybe the Nuggets should hire [former Warriors coach Mark Jackson] for the next couple weeks,” Karl tweeted. “He can then get Iguodala to share some intel on the Warriors.” The 70-year-old also added a rat emoji in the tweet.
Karl Speaks out on the Long-Standing Beef
Karl’s assertion continues to be that the three-time champion was feeding information to Jackson throughout the 2013 series. Iggy has also been accused of refusing to body up on Curry as a defender.
Of course, when the former All-Star officially joined the Warriors shortly thereafter, some took that as confirmation that he had been sabotaging the Nuggets during the series, which the Warriors won 4-2 as a sixth seed.
During the latest episode of DNVR Sports’ Keeping It 1000 podcast, Karl spoke in greater depth about what he felt had transpired.
“I think his actions in that series were difficult for some of the players and some of the coaches to tolerate,” Karl said. “I think he was messing with the game a little bit. Now, what does that mean? I don’t know. I have no proof other than I think he had a close connection with Mark Jackson and maybe a few other guys on the team.”
Although Karl did concede that Iguodala played well for him in the series — he averaged 18 points, eight rebounds and 5.3 assists — he also said that he could envision Draymond Green pumping the baller for info.
The latest Golden State Warriors news straight to your inbox! Heavy on Warriors newsletter here!
The Warriors Had Their Own Issue With the Nuggets
While the Iguodala conspiracy is the stuff of legend at this point, the Warriors also felt as though some shady strategy was being employed by Coach Karl and Denver. Specifically, Jackson believed that Nuggets players were attempting to injure Steph Curry during the series.
He famously had this to say after a Game 5 loss to the Nuggets, via NBC Sports Bay Area:
The screen on Curry by the foul line is a shot at his ankle, clearly. That can’t be debated. I’ve got inside information that some people don’t like that brand of basketball, and they clearly didn’t co-sign it. So they wanted to let me know that they had no parts in what was taking place.
For the record, Iguodala dropped 25 and 12 in that game to lead the Nuggets to the 107-100 win.
READ NEXT:
Comments
HOF Coach Pushing Warriors Conspiracy Theory, Dubs Andre Iguodala a Rat