The Los Angeles Lakers pursuit of Andre Iguodala, as well as the pursuit of several other teams, has ended. Rather than going back to Los Angeles, Iguodala will be spending the twilight of his amazing NBA career on the shores of Miami Beach.
Andre Iguodala has not only been traded from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Miami Heat, but the 16-year NBA veteran has agreed to a contract extension to stay in Miami, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Shams Charania of The Athletic followed up by reporting the Heat maintained their flexibility to pursue free agents in 2021 by making the second year a team option.
Source: Andre Iguodala and Miami's two-year, $30M extension has team option in second season (2021-22).
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 6, 2020
In exchange for Iguodala, the crown jewel for the Grizzlies was Miami wing Justise Winslow.
Justise Winslow is part of the package headed to Memphis in the Iguodala trade, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 6, 2020
Given that Winslow is cost-controlled for the next couple of seasons and also adds some extra creative ability to the Grizzlies, it’s not hard to see why the Lakers never had a chance in a potential bidding war for the services of Iguodala.
Even if they had given up Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso, they clearly didn’t have the available talent to exchange that the Grizzlies thought was worth Iguodala’s market price.
[lawrence-related id=26467,26456]