Andre Iguodala will be a free agent this offseason, but he’s unlikely to leave Golden State, according to Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. A source tells the scribe that the real question is how many years will Iguodala’s next deal with the Warriors run.
A new contract for Iguodala will have to wait until other dominos fall in the Bay Area this offseason. The Warriors could face cap issues as they try to re-sign Kevin Durant. Kawakami notes that they would have to get creative in order to open up the necessary cap space for a Durant max deal and those efforts may include renouncing the rights to Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. Taking that route would forfeit Iguodala’s Bird Rights, something that would limit the amount they can offer the 2015 NBA Finals MVP.
If Durant is willing to take merely a 20% raise on his 2016/17 salary, the team would not have to fit him into cap space and they could retain the bird rights of its other players, Kawakami notes. Durant could sign another two-year deal with a starting salary of approximately $31.8MM, which would contain another opt-out after the first season. That amount would come in roughly $4MM less than the maximum he could receive, so it’s not a given that the team takes this path.
Durant doesn’t plan on leaving Golden State and he hasn’t given much thought to his contract situation. Regardless of what happens with his option this summer, he wants the team to stay together.
“I haven’t thought about it, but obviously you want to keep this group together,” Durant said. “We want to see how far we can go with this thing. I’m sure once the season’s over with, we’ll figure that stuff out everybody. I’m sure it’ll all work out for the best.”
Kawakami adds that Golden State’s plan all along was to keep this core together for years to come and the franchise won’t change course anytime soon.
Wouldn’t be a suprise if Durant and Iguodala didn’t take the most money they could get. They both are smart, we’ll off people who understand it takes a team to win, not just a couple Max contract players.
We have Curry’s contract to consider as well. Livingston too.
Let’s see if this core stays together.
Let’s even see if this group can win it all? You don’t know any of that yet. We’ll have to wait and see.
They know that if they stick together, they will wt least have a chance to be a top seed competitor for many years to come. This is the best route for any player.