SAN FRANCISCO — Andre Iguodala remembers it all like yesterday.
The joy he observed on the court and in the crowd during that playoff series as a member of the opposing Nuggets. The unlimited potential of that baby-faced assassin with unlimited range. The pay cut he took to be a part of it. The championships he predicted at his introductory news conference.
“It was just intuition,” Iguodala said. “I didn’t think it’d be four. The stars were just aligned.”
Even Iguodala’s loftiest visions when he signed with the Warriors back in 2013 as a veteran entering his 10th NBA season would look modest in comparison to what’s in store next month.
Iguodala will become the first member of the Warriors’ dynasty to have his number retired, the organization said Thursday in a long-anticipated announcement.
Iguodala’s No. 9 will go into the rafters Feb. 23 in a pregame ceremony before the Warriors’ game against the Dallas Mavericks and, yes, Klay Thompson.
A father, a venture capitalist and the president of the NBA Players Association, Iguodala said he still hasn’t taken time to soak in the glory, even since retiring in 2023. But maybe, for a night.
“What the Warriors team has set up, they’ve done something really special,” Iguodala said. “I think it’s going to blow folks out of the water. It kind of helped me reflect.”
Iguodala joins Rick Barry (24), Wilt Chamberlain (13), Nate Thurmond (42), Al Attles (16), Chris Mullin (17) and Tom Meschery (14) as the seventh player in franchise history to receive the honor, and that number figures to grow to double-digits before long with the additions of Nos. 11, 23, 30 and 35.
“It just means I’m the oldest,” Iguodala, 40, said of receiving the first ceremony between the five core members of their championship runs. “I think I’ll be able to reflect on those guys. Without those guys, I wouldn’t be in this position.
“I think they understand how important I was. But obviously Steph, Klay and Draymond just being so unique in who they are. It’s just a powerful formula. You see everyone trying to duplicate it now, and it’s kind of throwing basketball off. Because they’re one-of-ones, all of them. And obviously KD’s just from another planet.”
Together, they managed to reach the NBA Finals in five consecutive seasons, from 2015-19, and then teamed up again — without Durant — to win an improbable fourth title in 2022.
The fourth championship put Iguodala in elite company, as one of 42 players to ever accomplish the feat, and his 2015 Finals MVP made him one of just 11 to achieve the tandem.
Iguodala never matched the individual numbers from the first nine years in Philadelphia and Denver, but his legacy will be defined by his contributions to winning in the latter half of his career.
“You don’t know when the end is going to be, especially at 10 years. The average is like three and a half now,” Iguodala said. “So for me (at the time), it was just like, I want to get that joy back in playing basketball. … It was just perfect timing on and off the court. But the atmosphere I played in during that playoff series, I just decided I wanted to play in it 41 times a year.”
Iguodala began his business ventures during his playing career, and he has only ramped up those investments in retirement. He squeezed the conference call for this announcement in between meetings for TGL, the new golf league formed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in which he owns a stake in The Bay Golf Club alongside Curry. (He is also an investor in Bay FC, the region’s NWSL team, and numerous tech companies.)
He never averaged double figures and only played 30 minutes per game in one of his eight seasons with Golden State, but Iguodala said the Warriors fanbase “probably played the biggest role in this. They voiced their appreciation of me.”
Now, though, he admitted he sometimes gets flustered when recognized in public, the kind of interactions that became commonplace over a 19-year playing career.
“I’m not even thinking I’m Andre Iguodala the basketball player,” he said. “I’m used to getting stopped a lot. But now it throws me off. Because I’m like, I don’t play basketball anymore. I’m just a normal venture capitalist and I run the players association. I’ve got work to do.”
Fans often share one common sentiment when they do strike up the courage to share their appreciation, one of many that should be on display next month inside Chase Center.
“Anywhere I go in the Bay – if I go grab some pancakes, or people are surprised I might go to buy a jacket at Patagonia – I constantly get stopped by folks and they say, you know, you really helped me raise my children,” Iguodala said. “Bringing a proper approach to whatever it is that you do, respecting what you do, doing it at a high level, teamwork, discipline, sacrifice … You walk away feeling a little bit better about yourself, actually. You realize it’s bigger than you.”