Ahead of the upcoming season, Andre Iguodala announced his retirement after playing 19 glorious seasons in the NBA. The most notable tenure of his career came during his time with the Golden State Warriors. In his eight seasons in the Bay area, Iggy won four NBA titles and one Finals MVP, which forms the best highlights of his career. Surely, parting with such a legend of the game is unimaginable, especially for the Warriors fans.
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Warriors coach Steve Kerr also has some fond memories of reminiscing about Andre Iguodala. Ahead of the Dubs’ preseason game against the San Antonio Spurs, coach Kerr recalled a hilarious incident involving Iggy after the 2015 title-winning campaign. As per Kerr, the 2015 Finals MVP had a different reason to be happy about winning the championship. The Warriors’ team was promised a visit to the Augusta National if crowned champions and Iggy went to lengths and breadths to achieve the same.
Steve Kerr shares a hilarious incident involving Andre Iguodala after winning the 2015 championship
Many NBA players take a liking towards golf other than basketball. Michael Jordan’s passion and love for the sport also played a huge role is making golf a mainstream among the NBA royalties.
Interestingly, Steve Kerr recalled how his favorite memory of Andre Iguodala was unrelated to playing basketball. In 2015, Kerr had promised Iggy and the team that he would take them to the Augusta National golf course if they won that title. Perhaps this motivation led Andre Iguodala to show stellar performance in the series, eventually winning the Finals MVP title.
“When we won the title in ’15, during that run, one of my best friends is a member of Augusta. And, Andre loves golf. So, my friend Jeff said that, ‘Hey uh tell Andre and staff that if we win the title we go to Augusta.’ So, Andre is such a golf nut, I told him, you know. So, buzzer sounds, Steph like threw the ball up in the air, Andre catches the ball. I mean it’s not 15-20 seconds after we won the NBA championship. Andre runs over to me, he goes, ‘We going to Augusta!’ Like, that’s what you’re thinking of right now?”
But he loves golf so much and I always love that story because he made the sacrifice to come off the bench all that year, and he starts the last three games, he gets the Finals MVP, and then gets to go to golf heaven! It’s a good run.”
Here is a clip of the same shared by Warriors on NBCS.
“If we win the title, we’ll go to Augusta.”
To nobody’s surprise, Kerr’s favorite Iguodala memory had to do with golf 😂 pic.twitter.com/X1HU8f3OV7
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 21, 2023
Indeed, Augusta National is a golfer’s paradise, best known for hosting the Masters Tournament every year. Top golfers such as Tiger Woods and Jon Rahm have played and won the coveted Green Jacket as tournament champions. Hence, Andre Iguodala would never miss getting a taste of such a prestigious golfing destination, being a huge fan of the sport.
Iguodala and Stephen Curry were the golf nuts of the Warriors
Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala have an undying love for the game of golf. Their craze for the sport is high enough for them to be considered as the ‘golf nuts’ of the Dubs. Very recently, the Splash Brothers Curry and Klay Thompson, alongside Andre Iguodala, purchased stakes in San Francisco’s TGL team ownership.
The TGL is a unique golfing league that infuses technology and other innovations. Founded by legends Tiger Woods and Rory Mcllroy, the league is expected to launch in January 2024. The Splash Brothers and Andre Iguodala indeed realized a dream with this venture, perhaps even opening a new avenue for themselves after they are done and dusted with their NBA careers.
