Andre Iguodala Compares Playing for the Warriors to Competing for Team USA

Iguodala enters Thursday Finals battle against Toronto with three NBA championships and one Olympic gold medal.

Warriors forward Andre Iguodala offered some high praise for the two-time defending champions on Thursday by saying his time with the Warriors "is just like playing for Team USA," according to Bleacher Report's Ric Bucher. 

Iguodala has certainly experienced a fair share of success in Golden State. The Warriors enter Thursday's NBA Finals matchup with the Raptors seeking their fourth championship in the last five years. They have now appeared in the Finals in each of the last five seasons. Kevin Durant has led the way in each of the last two seasons with Finals MVP honors in 2017 and 2018.

Yet despite the near-unprecedented success, Iguodala noted a downside of playing with such an accomplished squad. 

"Playing for the Warriors is just like playing for Team USA. When you play in the Olympics, you don't even enjoy it," Iguodala told Bucher. "There's the anxiety of 'We have to win. We can't lose, or we can't go back home.' We talk about it on the Olympic team: 'We can't go back home without the gold medal, fellas. Got to lock in. Let's lock in.' Then once you win, it's like, 'Yeah, we got it, we can go back home. Yay, we won, but we were supposed to.'"

Iguodala was a key player in each of Golden State's three championships. He won Finals MVP in 2015, then averaged over 26 minutes per game in the 2017 and 2018 playoffs. The Arizona product won the gold medal with Team USA at the 2012 London Olympics. 

Golden State will square off against the Raptors in Game 1 of the Finals on Thursday night. Tip-off from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto is slated for 9 p.m. ET.