July 12, 4:07pm: The signing is official, according to NBA.com.
July 1, 10:56pm: Andre Iguodala has decided to return to the Warriors on a three-year, $48MM deal, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical. Iguodala himself confirmed the agreement (on Twitter) around the same time Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN first reported that a deal was in place (Twitter link). The contract is fully guaranteed with no options on either side, per Charania (Twitter link).
Iguodala committed to Golden State after meeting with GM Bob Myers and coach Steve Kerr tonight in Los Angeles, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Iguodala also received multi-year offers from the Rockets, Spurs and Kings, putting pressure on the Warriors to increase their own offer, which was believed to originally be in the range of $12-14MM per year, with a partial guarantee in year three (Twitter link via Sam Amick of USA Today).
[RELATED: 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
With new deals in place for Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, along with a super-max extension for Stephen Curry and a huge contract coming for Kevin Durant, Myers has ensured that the core of the Warriors’ championship team will remain together. However, it certainly won’t be cheap.
Once the Warriors come to terms with Durant on a new deal that will give him a 20% raise using his Non-Bird rights, they will have an estimated $130MM in guaranteed money on their books, as Bobby Marks of ESPN details. Even if Golden State fills out the rest of its roster with minimum salary players, team salary would exceed $137MM, putting the club way over the $119MM luxury tax line and creating a tax bill in the neighborhood of $40MM.
By exceeding the tax apron, the Warriors will lose their full mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception, but will have access to the taxpayer MLE worth $5.192MM. Of course, given how many commitments the Dubs already have on their books, any player(s) signed using that exception would be exponentially more expensive due to tax penalties.
The Warriors’ future cap situation will also get a lot more interesting due to Iguodala’s new deal, which includes a guaranteed third year. That means Iggy’s contract will run through the 2019/20 season, which is the same year Klay Thompson‘s new deal will begin. If Golden State intends to retain Thompson, the team’s bill on salaries and taxes that year will be massive.
While Warriors ownership will have to worry about those future tax penalties, fans in the Bay Area can rest assured that all the key pieces of last year’s championship team, including veteran big man David West, will be back.
Outside of former MVPs Curry and Durant, Iguodala was viewed as the Warriors’ most crucial free agent. The 33-year-old finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting this year, and while his scoring numbers were very modest, he played a huge role for Golden State as a three-and-D wing. Iguodala ranked 11th on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents.
With Iguodala off the board, it will be interesting to see where teams like the Rockets turn. Houston was reportedly having serious talks with the Cavs about Iman Shumpert, so he may be the Rockets’ Plan B.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.
yes!
I hate to say this but Lebron taking another L this coming season. Cleveland better clean up that bench and pay for some defense.
True that.
He’s Leaving 2018-19. Throw in the towel LeBron!
Leave where the West? The West is more stacked then ever right now, why would he join the West?
New York
Looking forward to the next two years to see if GSW can 3-peat. Next year is pretty much a lock barring an injury to Steph or Durant. We’ll see how FA turns out next summer, but GSW is likely to be heavy favorites.
Durant got injured, last season during the Washington Wizards game and the Warriors were able to rid through the regular season. Playoffs are a different animal but I think they could have survived round 1 against the Blazers.
Ya baby!!!!! We got this year again piece of cake
Some folks don’t realize the work it takes to win, and the greater amount of work it takes to win again.
It’s not a piece of cake, it’s not a given, it’s not about 3 peat.
It’s about winning one more game today, and having that mindset every single day.
It’s a struggle and a heck of a lot of work when everyone is gunning after you.
That’s why the Warriors are paying millions and millions of dollars to keep these guys who know how to win.
Gonna enjoy watching GS fans eat a big pile of crap when their team doesn’t make it all the way this coming season.
The West is getting competitive. Spurs, Rockets, Thunder, and T-Wolves have all gotten better. But do you really think any of them really have a shot.
All the Spurs fans go crazy and blame Zaza for Leonard injury but in the end that was only 1 game. You really think Spurs could have done that for a full 7 game series. Hell even Aldridge could not help you guys at all
lol buuuuutthuuuuuurttttt
I think they will make it all the way barring any devastating injury, but I am surprised they paid this much for him. I know he is a veteran presence but they just paid $3.5 million to get Bell in the draft and he is a defensive monster, who isn’t as good of a shooter as Iggy but they can work on that. But having Iggy back sure makes the Worriers favorites to win it all… again. But I am calling it now, this time it won’t be against the Cavs
man when the Sixers drafted this guy out of Arizona in 2004 i thought he was okay not great and he couldn’t really shoot. Never thought his career would turn out the way it did making over 150million by the end of his career and winning multiple championships. Good Job Iggy.
Lol exact amount. Never bought the other rumors. Knew he’d get a $12-13 million offer somewhere closer to $16 million from GS, with the smokescreening. Got 16. GS pretty much on their way to what they obviously needed to do. Now they need to keep Barnes at the minimum, grab a veteran like Vince Carter, maybe another guard at minimum, grab a 5 with their exception, and call it an offseason
Iggy squeezing more bucks out of Lacob’s wallet. Sure he reminded ownership of the $1.5b equity position. All this really cost W’s was cash in the added tax hit. The guy earned this money although that 3rd year is not ideal. It’s still just money. The new arena will be a money printing machine! They keep winning titles and it’s a no brainer to make signings like this with the core. Iggy is a key member of the core and the salary is reasonable for a top level 6th man.