Andre Iguodala announces his retirement
Great creator of the first ring of the Warriors dynasty, Iguodala confirms an already announced retirement and leaves behind a legacy full of success.
An legend waves goodbye. Andre Iguodala has announced his retirement after 19 seasons in the NBA and a career full of success. Champion of the ring on four occasions, he has played seven finals and has been one of the common denominators of the last great dynasty of the best league in the world, that of the Warriors, playing a part in all the titles disputed together with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr.
An entire life linked to basketball for a player who says goodbye at 39 years os age after enduring many physical problems over the last two seasons, in which he has played 31 and eight games respectively, without even being able to participate in the recent playoffs, in which that the Warriors lost to the Lakers. Before that, they had lost a playoff in the Western Conference since 2014 - before Steve Kerr’s arrival.
The 28 consecutive rounds without failure ended in the same way as Iguodala’s career, who already announced that this would be his last season and watched the elimination of his team from the sidelines. His last game was on 13 March against the Suns, scoring 6 points, grabbing 2 rebounds and distributing 3 assists. Prey to injuries, he added a year to his career after winning the 2022 title, the fourth of the Warriors dynasty, in which he participated intermittently.
From 2019 to 2021, Iguodala spent two years with the Heat, reaching the ‘bubble finals’ in 2020, in which he also lost against the Lakers. They were the only two seasons in which he was not linked to the Warriors since 2013, when he would join a franchise that will surely retire his number.
Iguodala was selected ninth overall in the 2004 NBA draft by the Sixers. He remained linked to said entity, first with Allen Iverson as a partner and then as a star, until 2012, when he went to the Nuggets after playing in his first and only All Star.
After just one season under George Karl, he signed for the Warriors. Initially considered a great offensive talent and gifted with an athletic body and a prodigious vertical jump, Iguodala changed his role when signing for the Warriors and enhanced his excellent defensive virtues, becoming a fundamental piece of Steve Kerr’s scheme and forming part of the so-called death lineup, in which he was with the original big three (Curry-Klay-Draymond), plus Kevin Durant, who was on the team from 2016 to 2019.
Iguodala’s achievements
An Olympic champion in London 2012 and a world champion in Turkey, two years earlier, he was part of the Best Rookie Quintet and MVP of the 2006 Rookie Challenge. In addition, he was included in the Best Defensive Quintet in 2014 and in the Second Best Defensive Quintet in 2011 His role in the Warriors has been transcendental: Iguodala was in charge of defending LeBron James in the 2015 Finals, thus securing the first ring of the dynasty.
He also ended as the MVP of those finals, in which he averaged 16.2 points per night, shooting above 50% from the field and 40% on three-pointers, in addition to scoring 25 points in the fifth and final round. In this series he played 3 of the 6 starting games, the only ones of the entire season after being a substitute in the 77 in which he participated during the regular season. A very important figure for the NBA who has secured his place in the Hall of Fame. And he says goodbye, of course, with a legendary resume.