The Golden State Warriors’ Andre Iguodala will return for his 19th season in the NBA, the veteran player revealed on his “Point Forward” podcast on Friday. At the start of training camp, his return fills the 14th roster position for the franchise. Iguodala has stated that he will hang up his sneakers after the end of this season.
Iguodala is rejoining the team after only participating in 31 regular-season games the previous year due to spine injury. He also did not make a single start for the Warriors during their championship-winning season. Iguodala announced his comeback on Friday and said, “I myself will be returning for my 19th season.”
He further said, “I was retired for the majority of the summer, but my brothers – they kinda reeled me back in. So, really looking forward to it.” He sarcastically said that there are a few people he’ll blame for his decision to make his return to the team. He said, “I am blaming Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson. Steve a little bit, Bob Myers, I think they just showed me a lot of love.”
Jonathan Kuminga welcomed his comrade back to the group as soon as the news became public. Iguodala, however, delivered a hilarious slam to his teammate. Kuminga, wrote on Twitter, “Welcome back my brothaaaa.” Iguodala’s humorous response to the tweet, “My Foot Yo A**,” is immediately visible. Fans had a good time reminiscing and laughing over this.
In an effort to avoid pressuring Iguodala into making a choice, the Warriors had reserved his roster spot for the entire offseason. The franchise officials, stated that no transactions came to him over the summer that prompted the organization to push Iguodala.
Kuminga got his locker neighbor back for another year. So much value for JoKu with Andre’s decision to return 💯 pic.twitter.com/mmko7beGz8
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) September 23, 2022
Iguodala retorted that he had been “retired for the majority of the summer,” but said he had made up his mind to come back after speaking with his teammates, the Warriors’ management, and his family.
In addition to missing a month of the playoffs due to a left cervical disk injury, Iguodala missed all but six games between January and the end of the regular season. Before getting injured, he averaged four points on 30% shooting, 3.7 assists and 3.2 rebounds in just 31 games.