Andre Iguodala turned 36 years old in January, but that didn’t stop him and the Heat from agreeing to a contract extension when he was dealt to Miami at the February trade deadline. Speaking to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, Iguodala said that the new deal, which provides a $15M guarantee for 2020/21 and a $15M team option for ’21/22, was something both sides pushed for at the time of the trade.
“Both sides knew the window we have — my window and the team’s window,” the Heat forward said. “We all know about when teams want cap space. It’s hard to get acclimated with a group of guys in two months. The locker room is a special place. I wanted to be somewhere where I could grow with the guys, a lot of the young talent that I have a good impression of, help them grow, especially Bam (Adebayo), Kendrick Nunn, Tyler (Herro) and Duncan (Robinson). I didn’t want it to be a two-, three-month thing.”
As Jackson points out, the Heat hadn’t expected to be a major player on the 2020 free agent market, so adding $15M for Iguodala to next season’s books shouldn’t hurt the team. And in the 2021 offseason, the $15M team option can be turned down with no penalty if the club needs to create cap room.
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