Andre Iguodala Before Being Traded To Memphis: "I'll Probably End Up In Memphis Or Some Shit"

The situation seemed like it was getting contentious, but Andre Iguodala and the Memphis Grizzlies have arrived at a resolution of sorts. Per the Daily Memphian, Iguodala will remain on the Grizzlies’ roster when the 2019-20 NBA season begins, but he won’t report to training camp or Media Day. Instead, he’ll be allowed to continue private workouts while the team works on trading him.

The Warriors traded the 2015 Finals MVP to the Grizzlies early in the summer’s free agency period, looking to shed salary after a sign-and-trade with Brooklyn that got them D’Angelo Russell, Treveon Graham and Shabazz Napier in exchange for Kevin Durant.

Iguodala, evidently not satisfied with Memphis’s venture capital scene, had been looking for a way out since being traded, but to no avail. Shams Charania reported earlier this month that the Grizzlies were “refusing right now to engage in buyout, which would prevent Iguodala from finishing a Hall of Fame career on his terms because this may be his final NBA season.” (Hmm, who leaked that one?)

Iguodala’s averages last season were low for him, but there’s apparently enough interest in the veteran that the Grizzlies would rather not let him walk for nothing, hence this compromise. “As of today, we’re on the same page,” Iguodala told NBC Sports Bay Area on Monday.

He also mentioned in the interview that before the trade, he’d joked with his wife about being dealt to Memphis:

“So, I’m texting my wife, telling her I’ll probably get traded because I think it’s 100 percent sure, even though everyone else is saying, it’s only a chance. Then, once KD (Kevin Durant) left, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ll probably get traded. They’re probably going to do a sign-and-trade, so they can get something back, to at least get assets for him.’ No one was thinking that. But I was thinking they’ll want to get assets back because they can’t just let him go. And they’ll probably move me as well. So, she asked me where I thought I would go. I said, ‘I don’t know, I’ll probably end up in Memphis or some s—t.’

“She says, ‘For real?’ I was like, ‘Maybe. But probably not. I don’t know.’

“The next day, I got the message. It was Memphis. I fell out laughing.”

You know who did not find this funny in the least? Memphian columnist Geoff Calkins, whose latest piece is headlined “ Andre Iguodala has Memphis jokes? Then let him rot.” Well!