Andre Iguodala has missed the last seven games for the Warriors as he deals with swelling in his knee. But the veteran forward, who last played 31 minutes in a win over the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 20, feels like he is trending in the right direction.
"The knee is good," Iguodala told reporters Thursday ahead of the Warriors' game vs. the Kings. "The knee was just something that's never happened to me before and it kind of set me back. It was just weird. That was kind of crazy. But then the things that I have been struggling with over the last five years of my career, they started to creep back up once the knee got better because I took time away from it to get the knee better.
"It was just a chain reaction of bad events and we working it all out."
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SIGN UP HERE The 38-year-old hasn't had a knee issue like this before, noting he has had his knee drained a few times since the issue cropped up.
"I've never had swelling from fluid like that, in that matter. I've probably only gotten drained twice in my career. Then, I was drained numerous amounts of time during a six-week span which is kind of crazy."
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Iguodala has played in only 25 games for the Warriors this season as Golden State looks to manage his load and keep him fresh for the playoffs.
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As the Warriors look to return to the NBA Finals, they do so with a roster that is longer in the tooth than the one that last reached the championship stage. The 2019 Warriors had Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all in their primes, and Iguodala was their key weapon off the bench.
These Warriors must put more of an emphasis on health as they prepare to turn their attention to the postseason. Curry turns 34 in March, Thompson and Green are about to turn 32 and Iguodala is 38.
Green has been out for almost a month with a disc issue in his lower back. Thompson just returned from a two-and-a-half-year absence. Curry has done a great job of staying healthy, but he will need off days to stay as fresh as possible for April, May and June.
If Iguodala finishes the regular season having only played 40 games, that's fine as long as he enters the playoffs healthy and rested for the grind ahead.