The three-time champion will become a free agent.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday that the Miami Heat declined the $15 million team option for Andre Iguodala, making the 37-year-old veteran a free agent. Miami picked up the team option for Goran Dragic.
The Heat are declining the $15M team option on F Andre Iguodala’s contract for next season, making him a free agent, source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 1, 2021
Miami could have included Iguodala in a swap just before the trade deadline, but opted to instead to include Kelly Olynyk in the Victor Oladipo deal. Seeing how the rest of the 2020-21 season played out — with Oladipo getting hurt and the Heat swept out of the first round — it’s easy to say that the Heat should’ve traded Iguodala at the deadline.
Iguodala certainly had some good moments during the 2020 playoff run in the bubble. He offered some valuable defense on Giannis Antetokounmpo and made a clutch pass for a Dragic 3 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. And who could forget his four 3-pointers in the Game 6 clincher of that series?
Andre Iguodala’s a perfect 4-4 from 3-point land! @celtics 74@MiamiHEAT 82
: ESPN pic.twitter.com/uOjnkoMjDn
— NBA (@NBA) September 28, 2020
Aside from his on-court contributions, Iguodala also mentored Duncan Robinson.
But even during the 2020 playoffs, Jae Crowder was the better player from that trade. Iguodala’s uneven 3-point shooting sometimes hurt Miami’s offense, especially when he shared the court with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. I’m grateful for Iguodala’s contributions, but I agree with the move to decline the team option.
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