And he walked out into the frigid Minnesota night giggling with self-satisfaction.
Easily among the smartest players in the NBA, and very tech-savvy, Andre Iguodala knows it doesn’t take much these days to ignite a social-media firestorm.
The Warriors forward knows that one word sometimes is enough, and he definitely knows that any word or phrase with racial implications can light up the internet.
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So Iguodala, with cameras rolling, let it fly Friday night. Boy did he.
Speaking with reporters in the locker room at the Target Center in Minneapolis after a 103-102 loss to the Timberwolves, Iguodala dropped the N-word, responding to a question thusly: What would dumb (N-word) say?
Iguodala then made a reference to “massa,” responding with mock ignorance to a question about coach Steve Kerr’s postgame announcement that he was going to rest Iguodala (along with teammates Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson) Saturday night against the Spurs.
“We taking tomorrow off? Nope. No clue. Do what massa say.”
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What followed, of course, sent Twitter into a viral spasm of virulence, with the customary slinging of bigotry.
Until, that is, it became apparent that in this instance Iguodala was trolling anyone who cared to listen. He was tossing raw meat to a segment of society that loves nothing more than to stumble across raw meat on its smartphones and then grind it up to watch the bleeding. As he knew would happen.
Iguodala actually did know he would not be playing in San Antonio. He and his teammates had gotten word from Kerr.
Iguodala also clarified his “massa” comment, telling ESPN it was not a reference to Kerr, but instead was an inside joke with his teammates.
Though it is possible Iguodala was continuing to fan the flame, leaving if for others to speculate, it’s far more likely he had decided to come clean and tell the truth.
Here’s what we do know: The Iguodala-Kerr is the closest coach-player relationship among the Warriors. And it’s not particularly related to them both attending the University of Arizona. They recommend books to each other, and then swap them. They talk a little basketball and a lot of everything else. They often consult with each other on a variety of topics.
Was Iguodala being malicious? There may have been a streak of malice, but not toward Kerr.
Was Iguodala being truculent? That’s also possible, but again only to a mild degree.
What’s exceedingly more likely is that Iguodala was pranking the media. He does that. He delights in disconcerting statements and letting them hang in the air, the better to spur the mind. On this occasion, he utterly ignored prudence and, at the very least, straddled the line of discretion.
In the end, there is a good chance that Iguodala, satisfied with his work, went out into the cold Minnesota night giggling as he approached the team bus.