Report: Iguodala granted Warriors final free-agent meeting to say goodbye

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This summer, Andre Iguodala signed a 3-year contract worth $48 million guaranteed.

But he was very close to not returning to the Warriors.

On Wednesday, ESPN's Chris Haynes wrote a feature on Iguodala's free agent process.

One of the biggest takeaways:

"The Warriors were granted a last-minute assembly out of respect. Iguodala had reopened the lines of communication with the Warriors and told Myers that if he still wanted to talk to 'get down here.'

The Warriors had been in the dark for a day and a half and contacted representatives of free-agent small forwards Rudy Gay and Gerald Henderson as a contingency plan. But Myers immediately hopped on a plane from the Bay Area and Kerr was already in Los Angeles, having recently visited with free agent Nick Young. They didn't know it, but Iguodala's objective in sitting down with them was to personally say goodbye, sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN."

Iguodala was prepared to say goodbye because he did not like the Warriors' initial offer -- a reported $42 million over three years, with only a partial guarantee in Year 3.

When Myers and Kerr met with Iguodala, they reportedly increased the offer to $45 million guaranteed over three years.

But as Haynes writes:

"There was little hope for a resolution at this point. Iguodala wasn't budging from his request to make at least $16 million per year. If the Warriors didn't improve their offer, he was signing with the Rockets, sources said."

So how does the story end?

Bob Myers reportedly called Warriors owner Joe Lacob, who gave final approval to offer Iguodala the $48 million he was seeking.

Done deal...

Drew Shiller is the co-host of Warriors Outsiders and a Web Producer at NBC Sports Bay Area. Follow him on Twitter @DrewShiller

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