It’s a very rare time of the year; perhaps the only part where there isn’t crazy NBA news happening each and every day. Some teams are giving lesser-known players offers to come to training camp, and perhaps there could be some veterans out there who may express their unhappiness.
That is happening right now with Andre Iguodala, actually.
Iggy has had a very impressive NBA career to date, winning three titles with the Warriors during a dominant reign from Golden State. He was traded to the Grizzlies this offseason after a long run in Golden State, following his one-year stint with the Nuggets. And this begs the question of if he will appear in a game for the team or not.
He has expressed his desire to continue his career elsewhere, but the team would prefer that he reports to training camp next week. He has one year left on his contract, and the team is asking for first-round picks in exchange for the 35-year-old forward with a whole lot of mileage.
Whether or not he reports, Iguodala will likely end up with a contender by the midpoint of the season. The Grizzlies don’t appear to resemble said team and will likely be near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. Why would he want to be there?
Pistons Sign An MVP
The BIG story last week was the decision by the Detroit Pistons on Thursday to bring Joe Johnson in. He had a miraculous season in the BIG3, winning the league MVP award after dominating each and every week, leading the league in four-pointers, game-winners, points, and assists. He helped his team to win the title in their first year of existence, entering the league as an expansion team.
He was out of the NBA last year after a forgettable stint with the Houston Rockets to close out the 2017-18 season, in which he did not get off the bench at all in their thrilling seven-game series with the Warriors.
He had workouts scheduled for a number of teams, and it was Detroit that decided to take a chance on him. This comes at the expense of Michael Beasley, who also signed a non-guaranteed contract to try and get back into the league after failing to find a new team following his trade from the Lakers.
They were going to be adding an impressive isolation scorer either way, and they opted to go for the older one. Johnson turned 38 a few months ago and has 17 years of NBA experience.
This could add a lot of merit to BIG3 and gives Ice Cube’s vision a whole new set of goals. It is not well known, but Josh Childress was given a training camp invite by the Nuggets after playing in the inaugural season. He would not make the team, but it showed that he could still play after being seen by a large audience.
BIG3 is going to be around for the long term, and now everybody will be trying to become the next Joe Johnson.
