As Damion Lee joked last week on Andre Iguodala’s 38th birthday last week - the Warriors veteran is old. At least by NBA standards.
Only 41-year-old Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem is older than Iguodala when it comes to players on current rosters. So, perhaps it was expected that Iguodala would require some time off during his return to Golden State this season.
Iguodala addressed the media Thursday to give an update on his balky right knee and injured left hip, which have kept him out for the past seven games and will keep him sidelined indefinitely.
“The knee is something that’s never happened to me before and it kind of set me back,” Iguodala said. “It was just weird. That was kinda crazy. But then the things that I’ve been struggling with in the last five years of my career, they started to creep back up once the knee got better because I took time away from it trying to get the knee better. It’s just a chain reaction of bad events and we’re working it all out.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr assigned himself blame for Iguodala’s 31-minute run on Jan. 20, as Iguodala hasn’t appeared in a game since.
Iguodala has dealt with left knee injuries dating back to 2018, but said this round of recovery has required more attention than ever.
“I never had swelling from fluid like that, in that manner,” Iguodala said. “I probably only got my knee drained twice in my career. But then I was drained numerous amounts of times over a six-week span, which is kinda crazy.”
In all, Iguodala has only played in 25 of a possible 52 games this season. He is averaging 4.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 20.5 minutes per game but those numbers hardly shed light on his impact as a leader in the locker room and on the floor. Earlier this season, Steph Curry referred to Andre as the team’s “Wizard of Oz.”
“You just gotta be patient with it,” Iguodala said. “It can be frustrating, but I’m at the stage of my career where nothing surprises you. You get bad breaks, you get good breaks. Probably the most frustrating thing was that I was playing so well before it happened. That was the most frustrating thing. While it was happening, probably the optimistic way to look at it was this is probably supposed to happen at this time in your life. We on our way out. Just deal with it.”
Leave it to Andre to bring some levity to the situation and allude to the end of his playing career.
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Looking ahead, Iguodala said he has no doubts he should be good to go for the stretch run leading into the playoffs.
“A hundred percent,” Iguodala said. “I had really good workouts this week. … We’re close. We’re in a good space.”
Golden State knew there would be hurdles with the midseason integration of Klay Thompson, but Iguodala said the team should be commended for the way it has weathered Draymond Green’s nearly month-long absence, a team-wide offensive slump and more.
“It’s kinda interesting right now that we’re able to work out the grueling grind of an NBA schedule, with some madness thrown in there,” Iguodala said. “Like, there’s been a wrench thrown in our clockworks right now. It’s trying to throw things off, but the way we’ve been handling it hasn’t been spoken about.
“No one’s really kinda paid attention to what we’ve gone through and I think we’ve done a really good job of getting through the gauntlet. Not just the season, but the injuries, the lineups, we haven’t been able to get as much work as we’d like together. The way we’ve handled it. We’ve got the second-best record in the league still? That’s kind of amazing, considering everything that’s happened with Draymond, Klay coming back, Jordan [Poole] going to the bench, Steph trying to work through different lineups.”
