For nearly two decades, Andre Iguodala established a reputation as one of the N.B.A.’s most versatile players, an All-Star and Olympic gold medalist who racked up four championships with the Golden State Warriors.
Now, Iguodala has told DealBook exclusively that he is retiring from pro basketball to focus on his other career: start-up investor. He will run Mosaic, a $200 million venture capital fund that he just raised with his longtime business partner, Rudy Cline-Thomas.
Iguodala’s disclosure ends years of speculation. The 39-year-old had suggested that last year’s season would be his last, only to shoot down rumors about it earlier this year. But now is the time to hang up his sneakers. “It’s been a blessing to play for that long,” he told DealBook. (He hasn’t fully come to grips with it yet: “I don’t know if it’s actually hit me yet,” he said.)
He’s embracing his next act. Though he and Cline-Thomas had begun buying tech stocks in 2010, the two dived deeply into start-ups when he joined the Warriors in 2013. “When I initially went out to the Bay Area, it was my intent to have success on and off the court,” Iguodala said. “I thought about how to get access.”
That led to meetings with venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz, and then to taking stakes in start-ups, including Zoom and the cybersecurity provider Cloudflare.
It is a model now followed by many pro athletes, from the N.F.L.’s Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers to Iguodala’s longtime Warriors teammate Steph Curry. “Athletes are becoming smarter and smarter,” Iguodala said, asserting that their competitiveness and an ability to speak to audiences help to sell and scale products.
Mosaic is now his focus. The firm will home in on seed- and early-stage investments in enterprise software, fintech health care and sports companies. Iguodala and Cline-Thomas closed Mosaic’s first fund — whose investors included endowments, institutions and founders of companies they have already backed — in May.
Mosaic’s investments include Vessel, a builder of modular multifamily homes, and Athletes First, an N.F.L. talent agency and management firm.
Sports franchise ownership is another focus. Iguodala is a co-owner of Leeds United, an English soccer club; Bay Area F.C., the National Women’s Soccer League team; and, along with former teammates Curry and Klay Thompson, the San Francisco branch of TGL, the upstart golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Iguodala’s highest aspiration? Owning an N.B.A. team. “The timing has to be right,” he said, but “that’s definitely the ultimate goal.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/business/dealbook/middle-east-israel-economy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
by horseshoeoverlook
25 Comments
never trust anyone who writes “N.B.A.” to watch your children
The NY Times needs to stop writing N.B.A. and N.F.L. instead of NBA and NFL. It’s irritating
Good, he wasted a roster spot for the last couple of years. I know he served as a mentor and all that,but pit him staff, not on the roster, the was pretty stupid. Thanks Andre, later ✌️
Mark my words:
Iguodala is going to reignite the debate for who should qualify as a Basketball Hall of Fame player when he’s announced as a HOF finalist sometime in the next decade.
Good riddance. Dude is 5% more sane than Kyrie.
HOF?
People will jump to debate if his career is HoF worthy, but should just appreciate that he was an important player who was fun to watch. Congrats to him on a good career (assuming the retirement sticks)
Barring a Dwight Howard comeback, that’s a wrap on the 2004 NBA Draft. Not the best draft (especially given the one that came before it). Iggy is probably the second best player, and the only one other than Dwight who will get HoF consideration (the next best guys are Trevor Ariza and Luol Deng). Also just some bad breaks, with Childress leaving for Europe because he was unhappy with his restricted free agency opportunities, and Okafor and Livingston suffering serious injuries that kept them sidelined for years.
For reference, we’re down to LeBron from the 2003 draft, Chris Paul from the 2005 draft, and Kyle Lowry and Rudy Gay from the 2006 draft. Man time flies. Crazy to see all of these draft classes completely exiting the league.
It was coming for some time. Thanks for all the great years, champ! Will never forget the swing in the 2015 Finals that was putting Iguodala in as a starter.
Time for some of my favorite Iguodala plays as a Warrior:
[Steal on Lillard to seal victory: 2019 WCF Game 2](https://youtu.be/vh5encBojqM?si=ndmg2DK0-2m5Nfvg)
[Strip steal on LeBron to virtually end the 2017 Finals: 2017 Finals Game 3](https://youtu.be/8AgMGWZcA-8?si=LBFPIeS3HGdef0vd)
[Dagger to end 2019 Finals Game 2](https://youtu.be/m9a5WibTZi8?si=s89EU6nDENHd23Ge)
[Dunk on Will Barton: 2022 WCR1 Game 3](https://youtu.be/iCEORWTYTRc?si=u-nmICrvvoIek1zu)
[Buzzer Beater vs OKC: 2014 Regular Season](https://youtu.be/US6pVmJna0U?si=WXmCBzt4AeIUpvbO)
[The Mike Miller Tribute of Losing a Shoe and Draining a 3: 2015 Finals Game 1](https://youtu.be/qhbIuXt_Oe8?si=0fZkXIyeHxcqxLmz)
Bonus:
[Andre Iguodala coaches the Warriors against the Suns: 2018 Regular Season](https://youtu.be/SL8Uo7bm8JM?si=C5O2rM17USkXYldj)
[The High-Fives with Wiggins in his Last Playoff Substitution: 2022 Finals Game 6](https://youtube.com/shorts/BPnUwgYSmE0?si=rY1lE40J-b3h5D7I)
[Coaching up Wiggins: 2022 Finals Game 3](https://youtube.com/shorts/BTmfF63dbZA?si=cdelwUWbkPkU0n9c)
Ok
People remember Iguodala as one of the sidekicks in Warriors but his career was a hell of a ride. I still remember how he got robbed of a Dunk Contest title. He was Aaron Gordon before Aaron Gordon.
Both found solace as tertiary options in championship winning teams.
If I’m starting a business, I WANT IGUODALA
Wonder if he’ll get his jersey retired by GSW🤔
Man has 4 rings but will be remembered for “I want Iguodala”
I want iguodala!
What’s Joe Biden got to do with this???
He finna be so obnoxious on everyone’s pod now
Athletes aren’t smarter the c suite is just dumber. Good luck though iggy.
It’s insane how long he stuck around given it felt like during those GSW days he was losing steam. Goes to show his locker room presence.
I don’t think investing tons of money you have, in startup that other rich people invest tons of money in, is called being smart. It’s more so the other players not being so smart.
Played for way too long, is a religious nut, gets high on his own shit like Kyrie, showed that he’s a prima donna at Memphis and possibly the most undeserving FMVP of all time.
He should have retired when people still thought of him as failed Iverson replacement dunk guy turned good role player on a championship team.
“The next 5 years are mine” -Marvin the Martian
This is the perfect time for aliens to point their death beam at earth
Damn happy for him. Remember watching like every game back when he played with Andre Miller
Good lol