Andre Iguodala scoops NBA reporters, breaks own re-signing with Warriors
The courtship of Andre Iguodala became one the top stories of the second day of the NBA’s 2017 free agency period. The veteran swingman, a key cog in the Golden State Warriors’ run to three straight NBA Finals and two NBA championships, had entertained meetings with the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings before returning to the Dubs to see what kind of offer they were prepared to give him.
All through Saturday, we wondered whether the 33-year-old would really leave the team with which he won 2015 NBA Finals MVP honors in pursuit of greener pastures elsewhere — and, as with all things NBA free agency these days, which reporter would break the news of his decision once he’d reached it. Just before midnight Eastern time on Saturday, we got our answers: no, he wasn’t going anywhere … and Iguodala himself would be the one breaking the news.
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Sources close to Andre Iguodala reporting agreed to terms to return to the bay….
— Andre Iguodala (@andre) July 2, 2017
It’s like I’ve always said: “Andre Iguodala is just a poor man’s Ron Baker.”
Iguodala’s tweet sailed across the timeline just ahead of those from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, The Vertical’s Shams Charania and USA TODAY Sports’ Sam Amick.
A couple of newsbreakers had some fun with this particular beat:
I hate when they try to do my job… https://t.co/stDPAECcY0
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 2, 2017
But do you have a second source? https://t.co/iXcN3nqAXm
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) July 2, 2017
Evidently, Iguodala felt comfortable enough with his single source to go ahead. Not exactly the way they teach it in J-school, but hey, it worked out for him this time.
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The terms of the deal, per Charania: three years, $48 million, with all three years fully guaranteed. How it’s structured remains unclear; the Warriors might try to frontload it to minimize the payout in the third year of the deal, the 2019-20 season, when a Golden State team that just re-upped Stephen Curry to the richest contract in NBA history and is expected to pony up near-max money for Kevin Durant will also have to deal with the unrestricted free agency of Klay Thompson, and could face having to pay $400 million to keep together the core of their budding dynasty.
Owner Joe Lacob, general manager Bob Myers and the rest of the Warriors’ braintrust will have to figure out how to tame that financial monster when the time comes. When it does, here’s hoping that ace reporter Andre Iguodala’s on the scene to get the scoop and share it with the rest of us.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
