After making his Miami debut in the 115-109 loss against the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, Iguodala and the Heat continue their road back-to-back with a meeting against the struggling Warriors (12-41) on Monday.
Having sat out of the first half of the season with the Memphis Grizzlies prior to his trade, the Portland game was the 36-year-old's first NBA outing since Game 6 of the NBA Finals while he was with the Warriors in June.
With the Heat (34-18) on a three-game losing run, halting that streak is the focus for Iguodala, who won three championships in six seasons with the Warriors.
"For this team, more importantly, we want to win," Iguodala said, per ESPN.
"This road trip is tough with a lot of guys down. We've got new bodies. Us getting a win is more important than how I feel. That's my mindset going into the game.
"I've played a lot of basketball games in my career, so the emotional highs and lows I don't have anymore. Everything is just another game."
While the Heat were beaten, Iguodala took the positives from playing 23 minutes against the Blazers.
He had six rebounds, three assists, a steal and while he only scored two points, the Heat had a plus 10 points differential while he was on the court.
"I felt good," added Iguodala. "I wanted to get a feel for where I was at.
"Honestly, I haven't even played a pickup game or anything since the Finals. I was trying to get a feel for where my wind was. Overall, I felt really good out there.
"It was exciting to be out there. It was like I was taking a sabbatical. Being away from the game makes you see how much you appreciate this game.
"The longer you are away, when you get out there again, you are excited with every possession, every opportunity to put your stamp on the game. That's what I tried to do."
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra revealed he ended up playing Iguodala for seven minutes longer than initially planned, but praised his shape before the game and said afterwards he would evaluate the veteran's condition prior to the Warriors meeting.
"The guy's a freak. Six percent body fat, and he's been off that kind of time? He looks incredible," said Spoelstra.
Iguodala and the Golden State Warriors lost 123-95 in Memphis on Monday, falling five games behind the second-placed Grizzlies in the Western Conference.
For Iguodala, it was a fourth game against the Grizzlies and second return to Memphis since he was traded to the team by the Warriors in 2019.
The former NBA Finals MVP chose not to play for the Grizzlies in a 2019-20 season in which they finished with a 34-39 record and eventually secured a trade to the Miami Heat before heading back to the Bay Area in 2021.
Iguodala's wish to sit on the sideline while a young Grizzlies team battled in the NBA was criticised by guard Brooks, then in his third season.
"I can't wait until we find a way to trade him, so we can play him and show him really what Memphis is about," Brooks said in comments shared on social media by Ja Morant, prompting a back-and-forth with Warriors superstar Stephen Curry.
Neither Morant nor Curry played on Monday due to injury, but Iguodala moved to 0-4 against the Grizzlies since leaving the team.
"[The team] has developed a lot [since then]," said Brooks, who scored 21 points on nine-of-15 shooting.
"We all had the vision and he didn't, which is perfect. Send him back to the Warriors and let him do his thing over there.
"From the beginning, we were growing a base, we had a base, then we just kept building and building and building, and more guys got on the train.
"We were able to create something like this and keep building this dynasty."
The Grizzlies are now a sensational 18-2 without Morant this year, but the Warriors are just 3-9 without Curry.
After the game, in which Golden State coach Steve Kerr was ejected, Iguodala said: "What we can't do is play the blame game when things don't turn out the way they should.
"We had such a great start, things were panning out, and injuries in professional sports you get bit by and you just keep moving forward.
"We've got a group of guys where I think we can get it done. Hopefully we can get healthy, but one thing we have to do is realise that we have to be smart about how we start to implement guys.
"Steph's out and you can't replace that – he's one of the top players ever. We don't want to rush him back or put too much pressure on him, that's how you get another injury.
"That's kind of what happened to me all year, trying to rush back, so we've got to try to be smart about it, try to hold down the fort.
"Interestingly enough, we're going to have to use the playoffs to get better, too. That's just the situation."
Iguodala has not spent a minute on court for the Grizzlies following his arrival from the Golden State Warriors in the offseason.
The 36-year-old swingman could be on the move before Thursday's trade deadline, with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers said to be among the potential destinations for the veteran.
It has been reported the three-time NBA champion and 2015 Finals MVP could sit out the rest of the season if he does not get a switch away from Memphis.
Grizzlies shooting guard Brooks wants to see the back of Iguodala as soon as possible and go head-to-head with the 2012 All-Star to show him what he is missing.
He said: "A guy that's on our team doesn't want to be on our team.
"I can't wait until we find a way to trade him so we can play him, and I can show him what really Memphis is about."
He added: "Andre Iguodala is a great player. I feel like he's doing the right thing for his career, but we don't really care.
"It's not a distraction at all. I laugh at that type of stuff."
Brooks' team-mates Ja Morant and De'Anthony Melton seemingly backed his remarks when they were posted on Twitter.
The veteran was a three-time NBA champion with the Warriors and won the 2015 Final MVP award, cementing his legacy as a Golden State legend.
Speaking before featuring against his old side for the first time since his departure last July, Iguodala thanked the fans at Chase Center, where the likes of Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry paid tribute to the 36-year-old.
"From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everybody that supported us, supported me my entire time here," Iguodala – who had two points, five rebounds and two assists off the bench – said as he addressed the crowd before a 113-101 victory for the Heat.
"It definitely feels like home every time. I just left, but it feels like home. Really appreciate you guys and appreciate you being loyal Bay Area fans.
"My brothers will be back in action, full squad next year, to wreak havoc on the league for 80 games. Love y'all."
Thompson hailed Iguodala as one of the Warriors' all-time greats, with Curry readily echoing those sentiments.
"We've got one of the greatest Warriors in the history of the organisation back," said Thompson. "We call him the Swiss Army knife. One of my favourite team-mates of all time.
"He made me, Steph [Curry], Draymond [Green] and [Kevon] Looney's job much easier, as well as coach [Steve] Kerr and all the coaching staff. So we're indebted to this man for what he gave us."
Curry added: "The respect that he has from the entire fan base out here you just have to step back and tip your hat to greatness."
While making an appearance on the Point Forward Podcast, hosted by Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner, Lacob called the NBA’s luxury tax structure "very unfair", lamenting the extra costs of having the league’s highest payroll.
This past season, the Warriors paid Stephen Curry $48million, Klay Thompson $40m, Andrew Wiggins $33m, Draymond Green $25m, and former second overall pick James Wiseman $9m, totalling $155m from just five of their 15 roster spots. The NBA's 'soft cap' – meaning the salary cap that can be exceeded to re-sign a team's current players – was set at $112m for 2021-22, and will rise to $122m for the upcoming season.
"The truth is, we're only $40 million more than the luxury tax. Now, that's not small but it's not a massive number," Lacob said. "We're $200 million over in total because most of that is this incredible penal luxury tax. And what I consider to be unfair and I'm going to say it on this podcast, and I hope it gets back to whoever is listening.
"Obviously, it's self-serving for me to say this, but I think it's a very unfair system because our team is built by... all [of our] top eight players are all drafted by this team."
Lacob said that some have classified the Warriors’ 2022 championship a "checkbook win."
According to ESPN, the Warriors paid $69 million in luxury tax in 2020-21, $170 million in 2021-22 and are projected to pay $181 million in 2022-23.
Iguodala, who will turn 39 in January, revealed his decision on Friday on the Point Forward podcast he hosts with former player Evan Turner, adding that the 2022-23 season will be his final one.
Iguodala won the fourth NBA championship of his career when the Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics in six games in the NBA Finals in June.
He admitted he was leaning towards retirement during the summer before being convinced by Stephen Curry and several other members of the Golden State organisation to return for one more season.
"I'm letting you know, Steph, this is the last one," Iguodala stated in reference to Warriors superstar Curry.
"I'm gonna blame a few people," he also joked. "Steph Curry is one person I'm gonna blame. As a group I'm blaming Draymond [Green], Steph and Klay [Thompson], [head coach] Steve Kerr a little bit and [general manager] Bob Myers.
"They just really showed me a lot of love. They really helped me see my presence outside of physically playing basketball, but also Steve was a big culprit in terms of 'listen, we really need you on the court'."
Iguodala, a 2011-12 All-Star and the MVP of the 2015 NBA Finals, played in just 31 games last season while averaging 4.0 points and 3.7 rebounds, and was used sparingly during Golden State's postseason run to the franchise's fourth title in eight years.
The Warriors still value the two-time NBA All-Defensive Team member for his contributions on that side of the ball, however, as well as his leadership and influence on the team's younger players.
Iguodala returned for a second stint with the Warriors by signing a one-year contract in August 2021. He previously spent six seasons with the franchise from 2013-19 before a two-year run with the Miami Heat.
"I came back last year to make sure we got this right, like 'we not gonna waste Steph's years'," Iguodala remarked. "We won the [championship] and I was like, 'alright.' And [Curry] was like, 'nope, I need you back for another one'."
Iguodala broke into the NBA as a first-round pick of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2004 and has averaged 11.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists over 1,223 regular-season games.
Iguodala was a pivotal part of the Warriors' dynasty, which saw them reach five successive NBA Finals between 2015 and 2019 and win championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Having accepted the role of sixth man in the 2014-15 season, Iguodala moved into a more prominent position for the 2015 Finals, with his defense of LeBron James crucial to Golden State's 4-2 victory.
Iguodala was named 2015 Finals MVP and continued to have a significant influence on the Warriors' success thereafter.
The swingman shot 49.4 per cent from the field and 37.8 per cent from three-point range in the playoffs in 2018 when Golden State won their most recent title.
He produced the same field goal percentage in the 2019 postseason as the Warriors lost in the Finals to the Toronto Raptors, before then moving on to the Miami Heat and helping them reach the Finals in the NBA Bubble.
Iguodala's field goal percentage of 38.3 for the Heat last season was the worst of his time in the NBA, but while he admitted to pondering retirement this offseason, he is relishing the chance to bring the curtain down at the place where his career reached its zenith.
"Who would have thought I'd have the opportunity to go back to the place where I was able to have, whatever you want to call it, legacy years, in terms of the accomplishments, winning multiple championships, the relationships that I was able to build with some of my closest friends and teammates?" the 37-year-old told The New York Times.
"The relationship with the fans, the relationship with the Bay, the opportunity to end it here, was just something special."
Iguodala will likely play a key role in mentoring the younger members of the Warriors' roster.
Golden State did not pull off the blockbuster draft-night trade many were anticipating, instead using picks 7 and 14 on two teenagers in Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. The Warriors used the second overall pick in 2020 on a center with just three games of college experience in James Wiseman, who showed flashes of his potential before a meniscus injury ended his rookie year.
While that trio will look to call on Iguodala's experience, he is hopeful he can still make an impact on the court perhaps even beyond the 2021-22 season.
"I think I've got some more time left," Iguodala said. "Where I'm comfortable at is I can decide when I'm ready to go.
"I think I want to leave with just a little bit left. I don't want to go out on one leg. I know I've got a few more years. It's just my decision whether it's one or two or three or whatever it may be. I shouldn't even say three. One or two."
Iguodala, 36, is yet to play a single minute for the Grizzlies since joining the team from the Golden State Warriors ahead of the 2019-20 season.
The three-time NBA champion was criticised by his team-mate Dillon Brooks this week and was reportedly prepared to sit out the entire campaign if he was not traded.
But ESPN reported on Wednesday that Iguodala would be getting a move from Memphis, who have agreed to trade him to the Heat.
The report said Iguodala had agreed to the trade and a two-year, $30million extension with Miami.
Miami are enjoying a strong season and entered Wednesday with a 34-15 record and in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
Memphis, meanwhile, are 25-25 and eighth in the west.
James was restricted to eight points in a closely-contested first half but the ex-Miami superstar put up 20 second-half points to record a game-high 28 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists to send Los Angeles 3-1 ahead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals series.
Anthony Davis (22 points) played a key supporting role, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (15 points) made a pair of clutch fourth-quarter plays that extended the lead from two points to seven with two minutes to play.
Miami’s Jimmy Butler backed up his sensational game three performance by leading his team in scoring with 22 points, while rookie Tyler Herro (21 points) and Duncan Robinson (17 points) help keep the Heat’s chances alive in Orlando, Florida.
Iguodala, like Curry, Thompson and Green, is playing in his sixth Finals in eight years with the Warriors.
The veteran wing was the NBA Finals MVP in 2015, but his three team-mates have been the chief protagonists of a remarkable Golden State dynasty.
The previous five Finals have yielded three titles, yet the Warriors have work to do to add a fourth with this team after losing 120-108 in Game 1 at home to the Boston Celtics.
This is the first time the Warriors have lost Game 1 at home in the Finals, although the last team to suffer such a defeat were the 2013 Miami Heat, who recovered to win the championship.
Although these circumstances are new, there is little Curry, Thompson and Green have not yet achieved, and they were the subject of praise from Iguodala on Saturday.
"The overall sentiment for those three guys, after we won the first one, was that they were going to continue to be this dominant for this long," he said.
"I think we take it for granted because we're so close to our athletes now, we're so close to them on social media. We start to forget and take for granted.
"We should appreciate them a lot more. It's a really long run to go to the Finals, for this group, six out of eight years. It doesn't happen every day.
"Only the greats, real greats do it – LeBron's the only one around our era that's been able to have the same effect in terms of winning and getting this far.
"We've made it look normal, where people take it for granted and take certain shots at us. In previous generations, throughout sports in general, people understood how tough it really was."
Coach Steve Kerr is backing his key men to bounce back, even if the series opener was particularly painful as the Warriors threw the game away in a fourth quarter in which they were outscored 40-16.
Aided by a 17-0 run, that is the Celtics' biggest point differential in any single quarter of any road playoff game in their history.
"Draymond and Steph have been in the Finals six times now," Kerr said.
"They've seen it all, they've seen everything. They've won championships, they've lost championships. They've had their hearts broken, they've had parades.
"This is all part of it. That's the right mental approach, and it's one that is borne out of experience."
Meanwhile, Thompson suggested the early setback could benefit the Warriors after they "got comfortable".
"It was a harsh reminder but something we all needed to go through, including myself," he said. "It's about how we respond tomorrow, which I am very excited for."
