Andre Iguodala: Why the 76ers Must Deal the Talented Small Forward

Since he entered the NBA in the 2004-05 season, Andre Iguodala has been a good all-around player. He’s an excellent defender; he’s a capable scorer; he’s a decent rebounder for his size and position; He’s also a very good passer. But it’s time for the Philadelphia 76ers to move on and trade him because he’s taken them as far as he can.

For the past five years, Iguodala has been the 76ers’ best player. He's led them to the playoffs four times; however, they only made it past the first round once, and that was largely because Derrick Rose suffered a torn ACL, forcing him to miss the remainder of the postseason.

As Philadelphia’s cornerstone player, Iguodala has been able to consistently get the 76ers to the postseason, but he’s not good enough  to carry them deep into the playoffs. Plainly put, the 76ers need to get a new franchise player.

You may wonder why the 76ers don’t just keep Iguodala and surround him with better players. That’s certainly an option, but it's difficult do with Philadelphia's current cap situation.

The 76ers are nearly maxed out in salary cap space and, outside of Iguodala, they don’t have too many pieces that are desirable to other teams. In a perfect world, the 76ers would keep Iguodala and trade Elton Brand, but Brand’s albatross of a contract makes that nearly impossible to do. Philadelphia might be able to flip Brand at the deadline as an expiring contract, but they probably can’t do much with him until then. 

That makes Iguodala one of the few options that could actually net the 76ers some value in return. With his $14.7 million salary for 2012-13, Iguodala is a player whose on-court value matches up pretty evenly with his contract.

He’s also the type of player that contending teams would like to acquire. That’s because as a complementary piece, Iguodala is stellar. He's a lockdown defender who’s good at everything, but not selfish enough to need the ball in his hands on every possession.

At 28-years-old, Iguodala is still in the prime of his career and would attract a bevy of suitors.

What Philadelphia could get in return remains to be seen. Because the NBA is set up so trades have to match in salary (unless there's a trade exception involved), the 76ers need to take on a player (or players) of similar salary.

That means the 76ers could trade for a player of Iguodala’s caliber who meshes better with the team’s needs. Or they could trade for multiple young prospects that have a lower salary than Iguodala but have higher upsides. Either way, something needs to be done.

The 76ers can keep Iguodala and remain a back end playoff team, or they can trade him and potentially improve the team in the long run. Given that teams like the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls are not only better than Philadelphia but also set up for better long-term success, Philadelphia’s only real option is to trade Iguodala and see what happens.