On Friday, Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala announced that he’s retiring from the NBA after 19 seasons. Iguodala said that it was just time for his career to end.
“It’s just the right time,” Iguodala told Andscape. “Time started to get limited for me, and I didn’t want to put anything in the back seat. I didn’t want to have to try to delegate time anymore. Especially on and off the court with family. A lot. You want to play at a high level. But then the family is a lot. My son is 16, and then two girls. So, [I’m] looking forward to seeing them grow up in those important years.”
Iguodala was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2004. In addition to the 76ers and Warriors, he also played for the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat. He averaged 11.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 1,231 games. With the Warriors, he won four NBA championships. In 2015, Iguodala was the NBA Finals MVP. Iguodala was an All-Star in 2012 and made the All-NBA Defensive team in 2011 and 2014.
The NBA isn’t the only place Iguodala had success. He has success internationally, too. Iguodala won gold medals at the 2010 FIBA World Cup and at the London Olympics 2012.
Now the question is Iguodala going to go into the Hall of Fame? The answer is that Iguodala should go into the Hall of Fame. While his stats might not seem Hall of Fame worthy, the four championships and two gold medals help cement his entry into the Hall of Fame. In the regular and postseason, Iguodala had 6,823 rebounds, 5,765 assists, 1,982 steals and 721 blocks. Only seven players in NBA history, Kobe Bryant, Clyde Drexler, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett, and LeBron James, have matched or exceeded those numbers.
Iguodala also served on the NBA Players Association’s executive committee from 2015 to 2023. In 2020, during the COVID pandemic, Iguodala helped the NBA navigate the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World. What Iguodala was able to do on and off the court makes him a future Hall of Famer.
See you in the Hall of Fame, Andre.
(Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)