Andre Iguodala technically plays for the Memphis Grizzlies, but you wouldn’t be able to tell if you weren’t paying attention.
He’s been laying low this season since the Warriors traded him to Memphis after Kevin Durant dipped and went to the Nets this summer. He’s been on a book tour, done some work in tech and has conducted a handful of interviews.
But now he’s finally back to talking basketball again. Iguodala paid a visit to First Take on Friday to talk about what he’s been doing and the state of the NBA.
Since he was traded to Memphis, he’s been one of the names that have been consistently connected to the Lakers and Clippers — two of the teams at the top of the West.
The problem is he’s currently stuck in a stalemate with the Grizzlies, who can either buy him out or trade him.
Iguodala makes $17.2 million this season and has said that he won’t be bought out for any less, but the Grizzlies refuse to buy his deal out with such a hefty price tag.
Meanwhile, trading him is difficult because of the money he makes. Whatever team trades for him has to send a similar amount of money back to the Grizzlies. That means they either send a player with a big contract over or they packaged together a number of smaller deals to add up to an appropriate amount. Either way, the team is losing depth, so it’s difficult to see a trade happening.
So when they asked Iguodala which team he’d want to play for, instead of actually making a choice he broke both of them down by their strengths.
“It’s picking your poison. I mean, you know, in terms of you having the poison and you being able to shoot that whichever way you want against your opponent.”
Smart man. It’s best to play this diplomatically for him at this point — he still has no idea where he’s going to end up. First thing is first, though. Get this man out of Memphis, ASAP.
