Getty Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala slam dunks the basketball during the 2015 NBA Finals.
Training camp is mere weeks away and the Golden State Warriors still don’t know whether Andre Iguodala will be in the mix next season. For their part, the Dub Nation denizens have some ideas about what the 38-year-old baller should do, though.
Some would like to see Iggy become the Bay Area’s answer to Udonis Haslem; a player who commands ultimate respect in the locker room and helps to steer the team’s ship, even if he doesn’t see the floor every night. Others think he should relinquish his roster spot and transition to a role on Steve Kerr’s coaching staff.
In any case, the common thread is that people want the four-time champ to stick around.
Whether that comes to pass or not remains to be seen, but one Warriors insider has an idea about when Iguodala’s decision will finally come down.
Kawakami’s Prediction
The entirety of the Warriors world has wanted to know what would become of Iguodala since the clock read 0:00 after Game 6 of the NBA Finals in June. And on Tuesday morning, one fan probed The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami for his read on the situation.
This was the longtime Warriors scribe’s response:
“I imagine Iguodala will let the Warriors know at some point during camp. Maybe a loose deadline at the start of Camp 2.0 when they get back from Japan. He has earned the right to take as long as is workable for the Warriors’ roster decisions.”
In other words, we may have to brace ourselves for a few more weeks of radio silence, but Iguodala’s future with the organization should be settled before the regular season tips off on Tuesday, October 18 at Chase Center against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
While that timeframe and the general uncertainty surrounding Iguodala’s future might be a problem if we were talking about another team, the Dubs can afford to give the 2015 Finals MVP the time and space he needs (and deserves).
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Iggy’s Role Has Changed
When Warriors president Bob Myers made the move to reacquire Iguodala last offseason, there was a thought that he might assume a fairly prominent role in Kerr’s bench rotation. Alas, hip, knee and back injuries combined with the emergence of multiple young and/or unsung players altered any plans the club may have had for him.
If Iguodala does decide to continue his playing career, he’d almost certainly remain in the same low-use spot he was forced to occupy last season. Besides having a cadre of former lottery picks looking to play bigger minutes next season, the Warriors also acquired veteran JaMychal Green for frontcourt depth.
So, with their roster set and the rotation shaping up already, Iguodala deciding to come back (or not) isn’t really going to rock the boat all that much.
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