Stephen Curry finally received the contract he deserves on July 1 and Kevin Durant is seen as a lock to return to the Golden State Warriors in the coming days. Beyond that, the Warriors also reportedly invested a multi-year contract in Shaun Livingston and, for the most part, the reigning champions appear to be in great shape moving forward.
However, the future of do-everything forward Andre Iguodala is very much in question. The Sixth Man of the Year runner-up and 2015 NBA Finals MVP has received a great deal of interest on the market and there is even a theory percolating that other NBA teams want to steal him away in part to damage Golden State directly.
With that in mind, the Houston Rockets are reportedly jumping into the mix.
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Iguodala reportedly met with the San Antonio Spurs in the wee hours of July 1, though it should be noted that the interest doesn’t quite align in the same way for Gregg Popovich and company that it does for the Rockets. Houston is already going “all in” for the 2017-2018 season by adding Chris Paul and the Rockets have been linked to potential pursuits of Paul Millsap and other high-end free agents.
The Rockets do not have active cap space at the moment, though, and that throws a wrench into any pursuit of Iguodala. Houston hasn’t been shy about potentially moving away from Ryan Anderson (or, less optimally, Eric Gordon) but, given the length and value of his contract, that may not be the easiest task. Iguodala also is not incentivized to take less money to go to Houston since, well, his situation in Oakland is perfect and the Warriors can pay him whatever they would like given Iguodala’s Bird Rights.
The biggest factor in Iguodala’s future could be Golden State’s ownership wavering when it comes to potentially punishing luxury tax bills in the future, but we are still at least two steps away from the ace reserve signing elsewhere. Houston’s interest makes all the sense in the world given their now-speedy timeline but the Warriors hold all of the cards … until they don’t.
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