Andre Iguodala will forever hang in the Chase Center rafters.
The Golden State Warriors officially retired Iguodala’s No. 9 jersey on Sunday afternoon after the team’s 126-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks in San Francisco. Former teammate Klay Thompson, who signed with the Mavericks last offseason, got to attend the ceremony, too.
Iguodala spent the back half of his career with the Warriors, and was a key part of their four championship runs. Iguodala got his start with the Philadelphia 76ers, who selected him with the No. 9 overall pick in 2004. After eight seasons there, Iguodala spent one season with the Denver Nuggets before finally landing in Golden State in 2013.
Outside of a brief two-year stint with the Miami Heat in the middle there, Iguodala closed out his playing career with the Warriors. He retired after the 2022-23 campaign, which was one season after they won their fourth and final title in the eight-year stretch. In total, Iguodala averaged 11.3 points and 4.9 rebounds across 1,231 games in his career.
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Iguodala was named the NBA Finals MVP in 2015, too, when the Warriors beat LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to secure what was their first of three championships over the next four seasons. It was Steve Kerr’s first season as the team’s head coach, too, after he took over for Mark Jackson. Iguodala averaged 16.3 points and 5.8 rebounds throughout the Finals that season, and he was the first to win the award without starting in every game that series.
“When we won the first one, it was almost like we had to do it again to prove that it wasn’t a fluke,” Iguodala said, via The Associated Press. “And then, once you win the second one, you’re like, ’Alright, we’ve got to do it again because nobody can touch us. And we’ve got to do it again because we’re supposed to do it again.’”
“That’s just the unique characteristics of great athletes, the ones who are never satisfied. That was in the DNA of every individual, and it just bred into the fabric of the organization.”
Iguodala is now the seventh player that the Warriors have retired, joining Rick Barry, Wilt Chamberlain, Nate Thurmond, Al Attles, Chris Mullen and Tom Meschery. While other players from this Warriors dynasty are sure to follow suit in the years to come, Iguodala went first. As the glue of the franchise, as Kerr described it, it’s only seems fitting.
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