Andre Iguodala has been a ghost of his former self this season. That said, what’s happening to the Golden State Warriors premier role player?
The Golden State Warriors main bench presence, Andre Iguodala, has been in a slump to start the season. For Iguodala, that’s not a common trend being one of the league’s more consistent threats off the bench.
Throughout this career, he’s come to be known for his defensive prowess and ability to efficiently score off the bench. More or less, Iguodala is an impact player, not a high-volume scoring. During his first season in the Bay, the Dubs were 18 points better than their opponent with Iggy on the court.
While that lofty figure has since dwindled, Iggy’s immense impact has not. This season has been a different story though.
Iggy, having played in nine of the Warriors ten games, is averaging career-lows in points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game at 2.8, 2.4 and 3.0 respectively. Additionally, this is the first time in over a decade that a team is better without Iggy on the court.
Just over 10% of the way through the season, there shouldn’t be too much concern surrounding Iggy. At the same time, this could become a pattern for the aging veteran. Could this be the season were he relapses due to injury or age?
That said, for the third time in his career, Iggy’s actually receiving the majority of his minutes as a shooting guard. Both this and a pitiful second unit could alter how effective Iguodala is. The Dubs currently has the league’s worst scoring bench.
As Andre Iguodala captains that pitiful second unit, sparking his game could help the entire second unit.
As it stands, Jonas Jerebko is the bench’s main scoring threat. Albeit a solid, big man, Iggy must respond to his lack of play along with the new personnel and become the go-to second unit vet.
It seems strange for a 15-year veteran to struggle like Iggy is. He’s been awful to start the season, but from a positive light, there’s only one way to go from here. He’s got to improve, and I’m confident he will.