Andre Iguodala lied about free agency to prank Steve Kerr

Andre Iguodala is one of the more unique personalities on the Golden State Warriors. He’s well known for his dry, sarcastic, and occasionally dark sense of humor, and always seems to be one step ahead of everyone.

Apparently that was on full display last summer, though the details are just emerging. Iguodala was a free agent in the 2017 offseason, and before re-upping with the Warriors for three years, he tested the waters of free agency. Among the many teams he met with was the Sacramento Kings, who reportedly offered him a very large contract in hopes that he could help build a winning culture for their young players.

It seemed unlikely that Iguodala would leave the defending champions for a perennial lottery team, but when money is involved, you never know. And so Iguodala used that to his advantage and pretended he was signing with the Kings, just to get a reaction out of coach Steve Kerr and general manager Bob Myers.

On Monday’s episode of The Lowe Post, Zach Lowe’s podcast, Steve Kerr revealed Iguodala’s prank for the first time. Asked if he was worried that Iguodala would leave, Kerr said he wasn’t, before adding, “I guess Sacramento was involved, and they were offering him a big deal, and typical Andre he decided to play a joke on Bob and me, got us on a conference call and told us he was gonna go to Sacramento,” Kerr said. “We wished him well and he was like ‘I got you suckers, I’m coming back.’”

When asked if Iguodala was a good liar, Kerr hedged a little, saying, “I bought it for a few seconds, but he gave it away quickly. He just started laughing.”

It was, to my knowledge (and Lowe and Kerr’s), the first time this story had been revealed, which led Kerr to remark that, “Now that we’ve won a title, and we’ve got it all in our rearview mirror, that story can be told. But that’s typical Andre.”

What a character.