Getty Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry of the Golden state Warriors pose with their championship rings.
Ever since Andre Iguodala made the call to play one final season with the Golden State Warriors, fans have been waiting with bated breath for his hardwood return. That shouldn’t come as any sort of surprise, either — Iguodala has probably contributed more to the Dubs dynasty than anyone not named Steph, Dray or Klay.
There’s a reason he was namechecked by Andrew Wiggins when the former No. 1 overall pick spoke about aspiring to be a Warriors legend recently.
Alas, there has been precious little information available about Iggy’s return-to-play process. He was pressed for details about where things currently stand during his Thursday media availability, though, and while he spoke at length on the subject, fans and pundits were largely left reading the tea leaves.
Iguodala Sounds Off on His Ramp-Up
First and foremost, Iguodala implored reporters to stop poking and prodding Steve Kerr for updates on his situation. As he sees it, the Warriors coach has bigger fish to fry now that the 2022-23 season is officially underway.
“Yeah, don’t ask Steve anymore, please. Let him focus on the team — wins and losses,” Iguodala said. “I’ll be there when I be there.”
In accordance with Iguodala’s wishes, a reporter subsequently requested that the baller expound on the situation himself. To that end, Iggy made it clear that there’s a roadmap in place and that things are moving along as they should.
“In all honesty, I think we kind of know. We got a target date, so we ramp it up. We got real good days… some days might take you back, but I think we’re still on the right path.”
He stopped short of marking a specific spot on the calendar, though, so as not to repeat the mistakes (if you can call them that) that were made with Klay Thompson and James Wiseman in their respective comeback attempts last season.
“Nah,” he said of sharing that target date, “because then if you’re not there, then you’re doing something wrong and then there’s noise that’s not helpful to everybody else. So… soon.”
An Analytical Approach
Given that he wasn’t particularly active during the offseason — not to mention the fact that his ’21-22 was an injury-plagued affair — one could be forgiven for wondering whether Iguodala will be reintroduced in a gradual manner. For his part, Iguodala is of the belief that he’ll be diving into the proverbial pool full-on as opposed to just dipping his toes in.
“I think once we’re playing, we’re playing, because I think last year kind of helped us a lot, too. Just having that data in place. We figured out what the issue may have been and so we’re just trying to not let that happen again.”
Turns out, data and analytics are playing a huge role in Iguodala’s ramp-up process, just as they are in every facet of the league nowadays.
“I have a load that I’m looking for, an analytical load,” Iguodala said. “There’s a number that you want to have as an output with the devices that we wear, the tracking devices. I’ve hit that a couple of times and we know how many times a week I need to hit that.”
One thing that may be delaying Iggy — the travel that every player has to deal with as part of the NBA grind.
“Once you get in the air and there’s pressure on the body with a lot of inflammation; you got to let it calm down, see how long it takes to calm down and then you ramp it back up,” he said. “Just trying to get a good feel for that.”