[Retro] Warriors out of Howard sweepstakes, sign Iguodala

The Golden State Warriors have reached a verbal agreement on a four-year, $48 million contract with free agent Andre Iguodala after completing a salary cap-clearing trade with the Utah Jazz, according to ESPN and media reports.

The Warriors had begun shopping contracts in hopes of creating enough cap space to try to sign free-agent center Dwight Howard, ESPN.com reported Thursday night.

Howard later confirmed via Twitter that he will sign with the Houston Rockets.

On Friday, though, it became apparent that the Warriors were slipping in the Howard sweepstakes, so Golden State shifted to trade the expiring contracts of Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins and Brandon Rush to complete a deal with Iguodala.

The Warriors found a match in the Jazz, who will get a first-round pick in the highly anticipated 2014 draft, as well as the Warriors’ first-rounder in 2017, to take on the salaries, according to Yahoo! Sports, which first reported the Iguodala deal.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/9452879/golden-state-warriors-get-andre-iguodala-dwight-howard-chase-source-says

Like everybody else, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this Warriors run of late. But I think as a Rockets fan, you think about Warriors exceptionalism more than anyone else because their existence has invalidated what has been a spectacular run in its own right on the part of the Rockets.

They’re not replicable because so many things outside of the norm occurred for them to assemble this team. Curry being underpaid because of his early career injuries. Green emerging out of nowhere. Finding Thompson late in the lottery. Of course, the unprecedented cap spike that allowed them to nab Durant.

But the most ironic link in the chain of events was Golden State striking out on Dwight Howard and signing Andre Iguodala as a consolation prize. I remember at the time being absolutely livid that Utah had agreed to take on Jefferson, Biedrins, and Rush, clearing the stage for the Warriors to sign Dwight. And of course, we signed him.

Of course, the rest is history. The Warriors would never have become the Warriors had they had Dwight clogging up the paint demanding possessions and not had Iguodala’s defensive brilliance, leadership, and experience. It’s funny how things play out the way they do.