Within just 12 hours, the Andre Iguodala season-long holdout turned into a big mess that spilled over to social media.
A reminder: the Memphis Grizzlies traded for Iguodala as the Golden State Warriors scrambled this past offseason to create cap room where there was none. Iguodala made it clear he didn’t want to play for the young, rebuilding Grizzlies and would sit out, awaiting a trade to a contender.
A funny thing happened, though: the Grizzlies turned out to be a surprisingly good team, and I’d bet having Iguodala play with this roster would help both now and long-term as he shows the kids how to be pro.
It all made sense, and it’s all coming to a head now because the NBA trade deadline is approaching. It’s possible the Grizzlies somehow don’t end up trading and getting something back for his expensive expiring contract (over $17 million), or buying out the veteran
The Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks called out Iguodala on Monday:
Both Ja Morant and De’Anthony Melton got in on it:
Wait! It gets better! Steph Curry appeared to call out the young Grizzlies on Instagram:
You would think that’s not great for everyone, but let’s look through this whole situation and realize it’s all for show until Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.
The young Grizzlies are playing the “no one respects us!” card. Of course this is the right response about a veteran player who doesn’t want to play there.
The franchise continues to try to drive up the value for Iguodala as much as possible ahead of the deadline, and although they might be asking for a lot, what else are you going to do with a multi-ring winner who could be of some serious value to a contender? Let’s revisit this after the deadline. It’s possible no one wants to pay for what the Griz are asking, and that either the price will come down or the forward will simply wait for free agency this summer and sign elsewhere.
Of course Curry has to back his guy up after they won together in Golden State.
It’s not the prettiest way for this all to happen and makes for good social media fodder. But everyone’s playing their part.
