Honoring Iguodala by retiring No. 9
The Warriors plan to retire Andre Iguodala’s No. 9 at Chase Center in San Francisco.
“He has been absolutely vital to our success during five consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals and three championships,” Golden State majority owner Joe Lacob said in a news release Sunday of Iguodala. “We thank Andre for all of his contributions and look forward to seeing his number in the rafters at Chase Center.”
The Warriors have yet to announce when they’ll hold a jerseyretirement ceremony for Iguodala, who was traded last week to Memphis to help accommodate guard D’Angelo Russell’s fouryear, $117 maximum contract. That move marked the end of an era. In his six seasons with Golden State, Iguodala was a core member of three championship teams.
Iguodala, the 2015 Finals MVP, led the second unit, slid into the starting lineup when necessary and routinely guarded the opponent’s best scorer. In addition to being a valued mentor to younger players, he was a steadying oncourt presence.
The Grizzlies reportedly are trying to trade Iguodala, who hopes to finish his career with a contender. News of Golden State’s intentions to retire his jersey came six days after Lacob announced, “As long as I am CoChairman of this team, no player will ever wear (Kevin Durant’s) #35 for the Warriors again.”
After deciding to leave Golden State for Brooklyn, Durant was involved in the signandtrade deal June 30 with the Nets that landed Russell with the Warriors.
Washburn addition: As part of the Iguodala trade with the Grizzlies, the Warriors landed forward Julian Washburn.
News of Washburn’s inclusion in the deal wasn’t reported until Sunday. According to a team source, the Warriors haven’t decided what their plan is for Washburn, 27.
As a twowaycontract player for the Grizzlies last season, Washburn appeared in 18 games (three starts) with the NBA club, averaging 2.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 14.1 minutes. In 15 games (12 starts) with the G League’s Memphis Hustle, he averaged 13.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
Since going undrafted out of UTEP in 2015, Washburn, the son of troubled former Warriors center Chris Washburn, has played in Germany, New Zealand and the G League. As part of the trade with Memphis, Golden State sent the Grizzlies a protected firstround pick and Iguodala.
The Warriors received a $17.2 million trade exception. Under league rules, they have one year to utilize the trade exception. Golden State must wait until next offseason to use it because it is hard capped in the NBA’s salary structure.