With Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant seen as exceedingly likely to return to the Golden State Warriors, the reigning champs should have their core in tact for 2017-2018 and beyond. However, the Warriors do have two very intriguing unrestricted free agents in Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, with Iguodala taking center stage as one of the more interesting free agent studies of the summer.
Chris Haynes of ESPN brings word on Tuesday that Iguodala has an increasingly lengthy list of suitors, including the Clippers, Jazz, Magic, Nets, Spurs, Wolves and 76ers. It should be noted that the report does express some hesitance as to whether Iguodala will actually explore the market in typical fashion but, if the Warriors come up short with their offer, the veteran forward can walk away and profit handsomely.
Iguodala holds a ton of leverage in this circumstance as, even if Durant takes slightly less using his “Early Bird” rights, the Warriors would not have a mechanism to retain a player that approaches Iguodala from an overall value standpoint. With that in mind, the ESPN report points to a rumored feeling around the league that, as crazy as it may sound, it may be better to chip away at the Warriors instead of adding talent to other top-flight teams.
A significant number of personnel within NBA circles have come to the conclusion that rather than building a superteam, it’s much more economically feasible and expeditious to just pluck away talent from the Bay Area juggernauts.
The Warriors, as currently constructed, will have a difficult time retaining both Iguodala and Livingston and the general consensus leans toward Livingston being more “available” when it comes to other teams pursuing him in July. However, Iguodala’s list of suitors seems to be growing by the day and that could spell trouble if Bob Myers and company elect to draw a theoretical line in the sand for his negotiations.
