The Sacramento Kings were thought to be the frontrunner to land Andre Iguodala after he opted out of his contract with the Denver Nuggets. The Kings made their offer very quickly in the free agent process, presenting Iguodala with a four-year, $50 million contract. That is one of the biggest deals the forward will receiver, but just as quickly as they offered it, they pulled it.
The Kings have turned a total 180 on Iguodala. He was originally targeted to replace Tyreke Evans who is currently being pursued by the New Orleans Pelicans, but SI.com reports that Iguodala took too long to respond to the Kings' large offer, so they pulled it and walked away.
Apparently unhappy with the team's decision, Iguodala took to twitter to say, "WOW!!!! Really?? Ok. MOTIVATION!!!!" The number of exclamation points in the tweet are enough to assume that while Iguodala might be upset, he will certainly get another offer elsewhere. What would NBA players do without social media?
There is still plenty of interest surrounding the 2012 All-Star. It is still very early in the free agency process. The Denver Nuggets certainly do not believe they are out of the running to re-sign Iguodala. Newly hired general manager Tim Connelly has made the forward a top priority in the offseason.
"I'm very optimistic," Connelly said. "I think he'd be hard-pressed to find a more attractive situation than ours, and I think he feels the same way. He's a key cog to an excellent team. I feel great about getting him back into uniform."
The Detroit Pistons have also been in contact with Iguodala according the USA Today. With a young and talented core group of players, Detroit would like to add a couple of veterans into the mix. They have also met with the Josh Smith. The Pistons have plenty of salary cap space and they intend on using it.
With a front court featuring Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond, along with Brandon Knight, adding either Iguodala or Smith could make the Pistons contenders in the Eastern Conference. The team is currently trying to re-sign Jose Calderon who spent half of last season in Detroit.
The Pistons have been in a rebuilding process and signing one of two veterans could be just what they need to finish things off and get the team moving once again. With promising draft picks in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Tony Mitchell, either Iguodala or Smith would be joining a quality team.