Kobe Bryant, a shooting guard with the Los Angeles Lakers who is now a member of the Hall of Fame, had an exceptional career that included participation in seven NBA Finals, five championships won, and playing all 20 of his NBA seasons for the same team.
Andre Iguodala, a small forward for the Golden State Warriors and a four-time NBA champion, spoke in-depth on Gilbert Arenas’ appropriately named podcast “Gil’s Arena” about his illustrious 19-year NBA career. Iguodala was a teammate of Kobe Bryant on the gold-medal winning 2012 U.S. Olympic team.
Iguodala, who is 39 years old and played for Golden State for just eight games last season when healthy, is still considering retiring before the 2023–24 season. LeBron James, a Lakers All-Star, will surpass Michael Jordan as the oldest player still playing in the NBA if he decides to retire.
When the topic of finding a contemporary replacement for Bryant came up, Iguodala had an unexpected response: Miami Heat All-NBA small forward Jimmy Butler. It may come as a surprise that Iguodala chose Butler given that he has teamed up with Stephen Curry and has faced LeBron James five times in the NBA Finals (four times with Golden State and once with Miami).
However, after hearing Iguodala analyze the scenario, it becomes clear why the six-time All-Star was chosen. Butler and Iguodala shared the Heat’s playing time for a portion of two seasons.
“Because you always look back and say, ‘How is Jimmy getting it done? He can’t shoot threes, he can’t go left,'” Iguodala said. “Whatever they say about Jimmy, he figured it out. I seen him dribble with his right hand left and pull up for a three against Milwaukee [Bucks] this year. He was going crazy.”
“He’s probably the closest that I’ve seen to Kobe Bryant with that mentality of just man, Jimmy will figure out a way for us to win. I’ve never seen a will like that. I’m like this dude got a Kobe Bryant will. A will to him to win.”
In the previous four seasons, Bryant willed his Heat teams to two NBA Finals appearances (as well as three Eastern Conference Finals appearances, all against the Boston Celtics). Miami was the lower-seeded underdog for each of its playoff series during its two trips to the Finals.
In 64 regular season games last season, the five-time All-NBA wing averaged 22.9 points on .539/.350/.850 shooting, 5.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.8 steals. Over the course of the team’s 22 playoff games, his production increased to 26.9 points on.468/.359/.806 shooting, 6.5 boards, 5.9 assists, 1.8 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game.