© Sergio Estrada | 2019 Jun 7
It’s no secret that Andre Iguodala’s decision to join the Warriors during the 2013 offseason stemmed from what he saw from them as a member of the Nuggets during the first-round of the playoffs that summer.
That’s not the whole story, however, according to then Nuggets head coach George Karl. Karl joined Tim Kawakami’s “TK Show” podcast on Wednesday and implied that Iguodala’s interest in the Warriors started during the series.
“Did you have any issue with Iguodala being close to the Warriors and then he ends up signing with the Warriors? Is that an issue in your mind at all?” Kawakami asked.
“Yeah,” Karl responded. “I don’t know what the real story is, but there were things there that we saw on film. There was something with Mark Jackson and him that was fishy. Had a bad odor to it. It was negative energy.
“Something happened in Game 2. The team gradually figured it out that Iggy was kind of favoring Golden State’s Jackson. His comments were a little bit irregular. But I’ll be honest with you I thought Iggy played well in that series. He played very well for us.”
Interestingly, it was Iguodala’s stellar performance in that series — 18 points, 8 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2 steals per game on 50 percent shooting and over 48 percent from three — that helped entice the Warriors to trade for the talented wing. Even if Andre knew where he was headed after the season, he still appeared to give it his all.
This isn’t the first time Karl has expressed his disdain at the situation. In November of 2013, Karl said there was no question in his mind that Iguodala was Jackson’s “mole” during the series, and that Jackson’s conduct was immature.
“I thought Mark had a lot of tricks in that series that were bush- . . . I don’t know. I don’t know what they were. Almost high-schoolish. They were beneath the NBA level. And they might have worked. They might have motivated his young team in a good way. You know, he’d announce a starting lineup and start another guy. C’mon, man. You think we’re not ready for that?”
Listen to the full interview here.