The fast-brewing rivalry between the Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies is one defined by many differences, but most of all, age. Golden State is the old standard and the Grizzlies are the up-and-comers.
Tensions between both sides were at a fever pitch in their bruising playoff series last year, when Dillon Brooks broke Gary Payton II’s elbow on a flagrant foul.
Brooks has become fan favorite to hate. He’s been stirring the pot for some time. Back in 2020, Andre Iguodala was traded to Memphis in order for the Warriors to clear cap space.
Iguodala was expected to be traded over the summer, but nothing materialized, and he remained committed to sitting out. As that continued, Brooks said he, “…. can’t wait til we find a way to trade him so we can show him what really Memphis is about.”
Stephen Curry responded on Instagram with a photo of Iguodala holding a Finals MVP trophy and a shush emoji. Ja Morant responded to that post with one of Kevin Durant and a shush emoji (both teams spend too much time online).
That continued last season, in March, when Brooks was asked about Iguodala again.
“We all had the vision,” Brooks said. “He didn’t, which is perfect. Send him back to the Warriors and let him do his thing over there.”
Earlier this week, Iguodala attempted to set the record straight on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast.
Yes, the same Shannon Sharpe who got into this outrageous sideline incident with the Grizzlies:
Iguodala said that the situation in Memphis was misunderstood.
He said normally teams contact you to welcome you to the city after you’ve been traded. Iguodala said he never heard from the Grizzlies’ side, but his agent relayed to him that he was going to be likely bought out or traded:
“‘Probably gonna buy you out. Probably not looking to bring you in. Probably looking to trade you.’”
He was promised a trade before the start of the season and said he fully understood. The Grizzlies were going young. He wasn’t part of the picture.
But, after the July trade to Memphis, nothing materialized. As Iguodala recalls it, Memphis tried to get the two Los Angeles teams to outbid each other for him, but failed. Then they wanted Iguodala to play for the Grizzlies:
One month go, by two months go by, three months go by. Remember, it’s July when this happens. And what are we doing? Am I getting ready for the season? I just made another Finals run. We just went to the finals five years in a row. So alright, I got to start figuring out how I want to start getting ready for the season because I need to get ready for that particular team. What’s going on?
And now the sentiment’s changed. You know how it goes. Team wants to leverage a guy who multiple teams want. They want to leverage this team with this team.
There was talk I might come to LA, could be the Clippers, could be the Lakers. So Memphis is smart. Alright, we’re gonna leverage Iguodala. Who can we get more from, LA Lakers or LA Clippers? Who can we get more from? We’re just gonna leverage them off each other and neither team bit because they knew what was going on. So trade doesn’t happen. So now they’re like, ‘Alright, maybe we want you to come in.’…
But now they want you to come in so you can showcase, really showcasing for them to get more in a trade.
At that point, Iguodala said he started to communicate with other teams. When he heard names like Milwaukee, Portland and others, he used his own agency and hinted that he would retire — a page out the Rob Gronkowski playbook — if he was traded to an unfavorable destination.
He said he told the Grizzlies he wasn’t going to come in for training camp, and both sides mutually agreed to let him sit out. Iguodala points out that if the Grizzlies didn’t like the arrangement, they could have continued to fine him on his one-year, $10.9 million deal. They did not.
The criticism from Memphis players is not something he said he took personally. Iguodala said he believes the front office fed “certain guys information” to give them a perception he was anti-Memphis:
100 percent. That’s why you’ve never heard me say anything negative about any of the players, right? If you’ve heard me say anything about those guys, I love those guys. I’m vice president of a union. I’m a player-first type of guy. I got y’all back. I’m trying to help y’all understand the business, understand the game.
So it has never been personal. I think you’ve got a front office who may feed certain guys information. That’s where they get their knowledge of the business from, so they might go into an interview and speak a certain type of tone towards me, not understanding the situation because of who they got it from. So it’s just like you only hear one side of the story.
Iguodala was eventually signed-and-traded to the Miami heat on a two-year, $30 million deal (with a second-year club option) in February of 2020.
After a year with the Heat and a Finals appearance in the bubble, he returned to Golden State in free agency in each of the past two seasons.