SAN FRANCISCO — The first of what is expected to be five jersey retirements from the Golden State Warriors dynasty has been announced. The franchise will retire Andre Iguodala’s No. 9 jersey on Feb. 23, coinciding with another Klay Thompson return night, allowing Thompson to attend.
The ceremony will come postgame, following the 12:30 p.m. PST afternoon tip between the Warriors and Thompson’s Dallas Mavericks.
Iguodala will be the seventh jersey number retired by the Warriors, joining Alvin Attles (No. 16), Rick Barry (No. 24), Wilt Chamberlain (No. 16), Tom Meschery (No. 14), Chris Mullin (No. 17) and Nate Thurmond (No. 42). Four more will surely follow over the next decade: Thompson (No. 11), Kevin Durant (No. 35), Draymond Green (No. 23) and Stephen Curry (No. 30).
“I’m just the oldest,” Iguodala said. “Mark Jackson’s favorite line was: ‘Father Time is undefeated.’ It worked to my benefit this time in terms of being the first one.”
Iguodala spent 20 minutes recently reflecting on his tenure with the Warriors. He joined the franchise in the summer of 2013, following a competitive playoff series between his Denver Nuggets and the Warriors. It was viewed as a solid veteran addition to a rising young team, not the final piece to a dominant puzzle.
“I remember my press conference like it was yesterday,” Iguodala said. “I remember what I had on. I remember the questions. I remember the responses. And, you know, I was a second-tier free agent waiting on Dwight Howard. So I’m not thinking it is going to be headline news from the press conference nationally. Maybe just locally.
“But I remember one of the answers I said: ‘We are not that far away.’ They took the Spurs to six games. Real close games. Steph was coming into his own. And I used the word championships.”
Iguodala was 30, entering his 10th NBA season. He’d play the next six seasons for the Warriors. They’d go to the NBA Finals five straight times, winning three titles. He’d return later for his final two NBA seasons. They’d win a fourth title.
“I never had been outside the second round,” Iguodala said. “Neither had the Warriors since the 70s. We were fresh off that ‘not one, not two, not three’ quote (from LeBron James, which caused a stir). So you’re careful with how you’re speaking towards it. I didn’t know because I’d never been there. It was just, I don’t know, intuition. But I didn’t think it would be four. I didn’t think it would be jersey retirements.”
Steph Curry (left) and Andre Iguodala (right) celebrate winning the 2015 NBA Finals. (Photo: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)
Iguodala is one of 11 players in NBA history with four championships and a finals MVP. He won that individual award during the first title run, shifting the 2015 finals as a versatile do-everything option, the primary James defender and a supplementary scorer next to Curry. Momentum in the series shifted when coach Steve Kerr put Iguodala in the starting lineup after a season off the bench.
“He was the perfect player and person at the perfect time for our team,” controlling owner Joe Lacob said in a statement. “The sacrifice he made in coming off the bench in 2014, sent a message that he came here to help us do one thing: win. The proof is in the rafters and his number belongs alongside the banners he helped us raise.”
Iguodala has shifted into a post-career role as the executive director of the NBA Players Association. He still spends a ton of his time in the Bay Area.
“I was just with Zaza Pachulia who sits on the (Warriors’) board,” Iguodala said. “We had an amazing conversation. And he was asking me how I felt about (the jersey retirement). I don’t know. I haven’t even had a chance to think about it. You know me. Like, alright, you accomplish a championship and what’s next? We haven’t been able to properly bask in that success.
“We’re on to what’s next in our careers. It’s not bigger and better because that was the biggest and the best. But I got two full-time jobs. I got a 17-year-old taller than me and he’s trying to get there. I’m just spread so thin that I haven’t been able to like properly reflect.”
Iguodala credited the “level of basketball IQ and knowledge” from Warriors’ fans for the elevation of his stature into the type of legend who could join a franchise in his 30s and accomplish enough to earn a jersey retirement.
“They’ve voiced their appreciation,” Iguodala said. “The Bay Area’s innovative and they understand you need everything to be functioning at a high level to be successful and to have longevity and to be able to scale. … Anywhere I go in the Bay, I can go grab some pancakes or I might go buy a jacket, Patagonia or anything.
“I’m constantly getting stopped by folks and they say: ‘You really helped me raise my children in terms of like, bringing a proper approach, doing something at a high level, teamwork, discipline.’ Sacrifice is probably the biggest thing that is used in regards to me.”
Iguodala also knows a lot had to line up for him to receive this type of honor and credited one figure in particular for it: Curry.
“I can properly assess my career, so I don’t need validation,” Iguodala said. “But I’m taking this one: I think I was the first one to realize how I can extend my career playing with Steph Curry … I hate making headlines. Don’t take it out of (context). Kevin Durant is the most talented basketball player I’ve ever seen. I’m including Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is the best, but I’m talking about talent. Nobody’s better than Kevin Durant. But without Stephen Curry, nobody’s jersey is going in the rafters.”
Iguodala, Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson show off their fourth championship rings on ring night in 2022. (Photo: Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE via Getty Images)
Iguodala was in attendance earlier this season when Thompson returned to face the Warriors for the first time as an opponent. He called the reception and celebration of Thompson “incredible.” It was the first of what is sure to be several celebrations and reunions of their historic title teams. Iguodala’s championship can double as the 10th anniversary of the 2015 run.
“People don’t understand how hard it is to have success,” Iguodala said. “People don’t understand how hard it is to get to the NBA period. How many guys have played in the NBA period? Like ever? Then how many guys go to the playoffs? Then how many guys get to the second round? How many win one? You’re lucky to win one. Gotta get lucky to win two. So to win four?”
Iguodala was asked to give his perspective on the current state of the struggling Warriors. Thompson has left the franchise and the Curry and Green era seems to be fading in a relatively quiet fashion. The Warriors are 10-20 in their last 30 games, causing building frustration within the franchise and its fanbase.
“We had a lot of folks that (the dynasty run) was their introduction to basketball,” Iguodala said. “It was like the Vince Carter effect in Canada. We had a similar effect on folks as well. So no one’s seen the realities of professional sports. (What we did) was abnormal … I came from the other end of the spectrum where winning wasn’t a priority to an organization that I had been a part of prior. So I’ve seen the good, the bad, the ugly with the league.
“But you can have the best-run organization and still not win. You can’t win a championship every single year. Father Time is undefeated. Everything must come to an end. You got to get lucky, too. I’m not saying that to say that they are at the end. But at some point, it will be there.”
One of many memorable Iguodala soundbites has resurfaced in recent weeks, as frustration grows over the Warriors’ inability to compete at a championship level during this advanced segment of Curry’s career. Iguodala was around when Lacob and the front office opted to draft James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody with three valuable lottery picks, hoping to bridge the gap to the next era without suffering the inevitable lean years. That’s meant an unwillingness to mortgage the future to maximize the Curry present.
“(Owners) really do be thinking it’s them and not us,” Iguodala said in a podcast with Curry. “That’s Joe and them, too. … They got this narrative now that we have a championship squad and they gonna build another one at the same time coming right after us. I’m like, ‘Man, you know how hard it is?’”
Iguodala has seen his words resurface in recent weeks as a prophetic reminder of the failing dreams of the franchise’s two-timeline plan. But he was defensive of Lacob.
“Everyone wants to win,” Iguodala said. “I know Steph wants to win. I know Klay wants to win. Draymond wants to win. Steve wants to win. And as much as people try to pinpoint me disagreeing with Joe, Joe wants to win more than anybody. Things like that put you over the top because you’ve got some owners who, you know, we just saw the sale of a team after they just won a championship. So when you put things in proper perspective, we got a great group, we’ve had a great group and Joe was a part of that group.”
Several of Iguodala’s former Warriors teammates are expected to attend his jersey retirement ceremony on Feb. 23, though Durant’s attendance appears impossible. The Phoenix Suns, Durant’s current team, will be between a back-to-back in Chicago and Toronto. But there will surely be future ceremonies for him to attend. This one will presumably be more tilted toward the 2015 title team and the record 73-win team that followed, prior to Durant.
“Without those guys, I wouldn’t be in this position,” Iguodala said. “I think they understand how important I was. But obviously, Steph, Klay and Draymond being so unique in who they are, it’s just a powerful formula and really hard to duplicate. … Really, really, really excited to share the moment with those guys.”
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