SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When Andre Iguodala signed with the Golden Warriors in 2013, there was no guarantee that he'd be part of a dynasty. Stephen Curry was not yet an All-Star, and Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were just starting their careers.
As it turned out, Iguodala’s sacrifices and foresight contributed to four championships, highlighted by an NBA Finals MVP win in 2015, when he led the Warriors to their first title in four decades.
On Sunday, they honored Iguodala by retiring his No. 9 and raising his jersey to the rafters at Chase Center.
“It’s been a wild journey, but it’s been a beautiful blessing,” Iguodala said in his speech.
Iguodala became the seventh player to have his number retired by the franchise. He joined Rick Barry (24), Wilt Chamberlain (13), Nate Thurmond (42), Al Attles (16), Chris Mullin (17) and Tom Meschery (14).
Iguodala already had an accomplished career before joining the Warriors. He had established himself as a defensive stalwart and everyday starter over nine seasons. In Golden State, he assumed the role of providing veteran leadership, recognizing the talent he had around him.
“You sacrificed ego for excellence,” Curry said during Sunday's ceremony.
Curry said Iguodala unlocked confidence, intelligence and maturity for an up-and-coming team, adding that he went from being the face of the franchise with the Philadelphia 76ers to the “glue” with the Warriors that “made it all work.”
“He wanted to join what was happening, because he saw how special it was,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before Sunday's 126-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks. “That was a coup. I mean, the Warriors weren’t exactly getting a lot of free agents. So to sign Andre was obviously one of the key moves to this whole thing.”
Iguodala was 30 in his first season with the Warriors and had never come off the bench in 10 seasons. When Kerr took over the team the following year, Iguodala agreed to take a bench role. He called it a “great, unique situation” and said that Curry, Thompson and Green made it easy on him.
“It’s rare in professional sports to see a guy that’s kind of still in his prime kind of take a back seat, or actually willingly move out the way for the up-and-coming guys,” The 41-year-old Iguodala said before the game.
That resulted in a championship run in 2015, with Iguodala becoming the first player to win NBA Finals MVP after not starting every game in the series. It was Kerr who trusted Iguodala to perform on the big stage and moved him into the starting lineup trailing 2-1 to the Cavaliers in the 2015 Finals and gave him the assignment of guarding then-Cleveland star LeBron James.
He averaged 16.3 points, 4.0 assists and 5.8 rebounds as the Warriors beat the Cavaliers in six games.
“That was the ultimate validation of everything I’ve always believed in the game, and I do think other people recognize that,” Kerr said. “It wasn’t lost on anyone, the sacrifice and the success and everything that kind of happened together.”
Iguodala was the No. 9 pick in the 2004 NBA draft out of Arizona and played in 1,231 career games. He spent eight seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, one in Denver, six with the Warriors, two in Miami and returned to Golden State for his last two seasons. He was part of NBA championships in 2015, ’17, ’18 and 2022.
Iguodala said the Warriors' core had a drive to keep going, especially after winning the first championship.
“When we won the first one, it was almost like we had to do it again to prove that it wasn’t a fluke,” Iguodala said. “And then, once you win the second one, you’re like, ’Alright, we’ve got to do it again because nobody can touch us. And we’ve got to do it again because we’re supposed to do it again.'”
He added: “That’s just the unique characteristics of great athletes, the ones who are never satisfied. That was in the DNA of every individual, and it just bred into the fabric of the organization.”
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Former basketball player Andre Iguodala, right, talks to reporters before an NBA basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Former basketball player Andre Iguodala, right, talks to reporters before an NBA basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A crack in a damaged chemical tank in Southern California has eliminated the risk of a catastrophic explosion but it's still not safe enough for the remaining 16,000 residents living closest to the aerospace plant to go home, officials said Tuesday.
Crews were spraying water to keep cooling the tank that overheated last week, prompting the evacuation of 50,000 people in the Orange County city of Garden Grove. Most returned home after a crack formed over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, relieving pressure inside.
The evacuation zone remained the same on Tuesday morning, said Orange County Fire Capt. Brian Yau.
Crews worked overnight to ensure two other nearby tanks were neutralized and would not be affected by the compromised tank, he said, adding that material from one of these two tanks was transferred to another that has a neutralizing agent.
“They are moving material over to ensure that all threats have been eliminated,” Yau said.
Those threats include the risk of a very small explosion and potential spill, officials said.
Exposure to methyl methacrylate — a highly flammable chemical used to make plastics — can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The tank at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems plant contains 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of the chemical.
The interior cooled to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C), the county's fire division chief Craig Covey said Monday, down from 100 degrees (37.7 degrees C) a day earlier. The company said its technical specialists and the county fire authority have removed insulation from the tank to help cool it.
Health officials sought to reassure people who are returning to homes near the plant.
“There was no contamination. There were no fumes,” Orange County Health Director Regina Chinsio-Kwong said at Monday's news conference. “There was not a leak. So it should be, you should feel comfortable going home even if you’re across the street from that new zone line.”
The South Coast Air Quality Management District will monitor the air for several months and the EPA will be checking sewer and storm drains for spills, Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen said.
Garden Grove Unified School District said last week it was shutting a dozen schools through what was supposed to be the last day of the school year on Wednesday but later said only three would remain closed Tuesday. It was unclear if they would reopen before the school year ends this week.
At a parking lot at a large park in Fountain Valley, just southwest of Garden Grove, people sought refuge in an ad hoc shelter there or pitched tents outside. Other people gathered in the park to enjoy Memorial Day.
Kim Yen, a retiree who was still evacuated from her home two blocks from the plant, welcomed news that the worst was not expected.
“I am happy and many of us are happy,” she said Monday.
She said she's ready to go back but wants to be sure it’s safe first. She's also been worrying about the emergency workers, who she called “our heroes.”
As the tank heated up, the chemical converted from liquid to gas, ramping up the pressure and explosion risk, said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University engineering professor who has studied environmental contamination. Some of the methyl methacrylate may already have hardened into a stable plastic similar to plexiglass, reducing the danger, he said.
The tank could eventually cool enough for crews to safely stabilize and drain the remaining material without triggering a spark or ignition, Whelton said.
However, he said there is still a risk of an explosion while the chemical remains hot and reactive. Temperatures need to fall closer to 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 21.1 degrees C) before conditions are considered significantly safer, he said.
GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields for military and commercial aircraft. It employs about 16,000 people across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries, according to the company website.
“We apologize for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing and our priority remains its safe resolution, so that residents can return to their homes as quickly as possible,” the company said.
GKN Aerospace agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.
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This story has been corrected to attribute a quote to TJ McGovern, interim fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, not to division chief Craig Covey.
Willingham reported from Boston. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Ethan Swope in Garden Grove, California; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.
Two evacuees sit in their pickup truck at a gas station within the evacuation zone in Stanton, Calif., Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
An aerial view shows a police checkpoint enforcing a road closure at the evacuation zone boundary in Anaheim, Calif., Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Jan De Jonge and fiancé Sher Stuckman set up a tent with their belonging and pet outside the Elks Lodge in Garden Grove, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
An evacuation map is displayed at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
People walk outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
An American Red Cross volunteer walks outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif.,on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
People tend to their pets outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
