A former NBA finals MVP that Memphis Grizzlies fans love to hate is calling it a career after the 2022-23 season.
Andre Iguodala has announced that he’s returning for his 19th and final NBA season. The announcement came on the latest episode of his podcast, Point Forward.
This means Memphis Grizzlies fans will get one final chance to bid adieu to Andre Iguodala, the longtime NBA veteran who pouted about being traded to Memphis in the summer of 2019.
The veteran player was sent to Memphis, along with a 2024 first-round pick in order to create cap space for the Warriors. But, Iguodala (likely seeking a buyout that never materialized) chose to stay away from Memphis and was even prepared to sit out the entire season if the Grizzlies wouldn’t reroute him to a contending team, according to David Aldridge of The Athletic.
Memphis Grizzlies fans can bid final farewell to Andre Iguodala in 2022-23
Iguodala spent 215 days as a member of the Grizzlies and refused to compete for the team, despite being healthy. He was eventually traded to Miami in a package that netted the Grizzlies Justice Winslow.
Just days before he was dealt, Dillon Brooks gave a fabulous quote that summed up how everyone was feeling about the situation in February 2020 after a game against the Pistons.
“A guy that’s on our team that doesn’t want to be on our team,” Brooks said of Iguodala back in 2020. “I can’t wait ’til we find a way to trade him so we can play him and show him what really Memphis is about.”
The Grizzlies got that chance when they faced the Warriors during the 2021-22 Western Conference Semifinals; however, Iguodala did not appear on the court during that contentious series.
Iguodala was limited to just 31 regular season games and seven playoff games last season, averaging 4.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 3.7 APG for Golden State on their journey to win the NBA Finals.
Grizzlies fans will get an opportunity to tell Iguodala how they really feel (one last time) on March 9 and on March 18 when the Warriors come to Memphis.