Andre Iguodala started every game of his NBA career until last season, when he didn’t start a single one until Game 4 of the NBA Finals. You know how that went, even if his Finals MVP award remains unthinkable. But when the Warriors take the court next season with pretty much the same roster, coach Steve Kerr is going to keep going with what worked.


Kerr told the Mercury News:

“I saw him at the postgame party in Cleveland, went up and said, ‘Congrats, MVP, you were incredible, what a job. And you’re going back to the bench next year,’ “ Kerr said. “And he laughed. And I laughed. Obviously kind of a joke. “But I don’t anticipate changing anything. We won 67 games with the group that we had. And we’ve got our core back, just about everybody’s back. And more than likely we’ll play it the same way.”


Kerr allowed for some flexibility—you never know what’ll happen, but emphasized that he likes using Iguodala as one of the NBA’s most versatile sixth men. So Iguodala decided to have a little fun with the “demotion.”

He only waited a minute, which was not nearly long enough to give Warriors fans heart attacks, before saying gotcha.


But he’s got some demands.


Those seem reasonable.

Iguodala laughed it off, but this wasn’t a given. He could start for most teams in this league, and a lot of supersubs wouldn’t be content staying in that role. The Warriors will be in good shape heading into their title defense because they have someone of Iguodala’s caliber coming off the bench. They’ll be in even better shape because he’s happy with it.