Although Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green receive most of the attention, Andre Iguodala is a very important piece of the puzzle for the Golden State Warriors.As an unselfish wing on offense, he is able to space the floor and defer to the many scorers around him. He might be most valuable defensively, where he has the length and athleticism to defend positions one-through-four. When other teams go small to match up against the Warriors’ “death lineup” that Iguodala is a part of, he can defend anyone on the floor. Since the Warriors tend to switch on each and every screen, that comes in handy.After helping Golden State get off to a 2-1 start against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals, Iguodala was ruled out with a leg contusion. He then missed the next four games.What made Iguodala’s loss so hurtful to the Warriors was the fact that he was one of the primary defenders of James Harden. But, in the end, his teammates picked him up and got the job done with him watching on the sidelines.Now in the Finals, Iguodala is slated to have a lot of one-on-one opportunities against LeBron James, who he has been tasked with defending in the past.But, the matchup won’t be happening in Game 1.

On Wednesday, the Warriors officially announced that Iguodala will miss Game 1 as a result of his nagging injury. But, luckily for Golden State, he isn’t far from returning.

"Based on how long it's been and when it happened, I'm not that far away," Iguodala told reporters on Wednesday, per ESPN.

Perhaps due to his advanced age, his body hasn’t responded as quickly as he had grown accustomed to.

"Grinding away at the process," Iguodala said. "Just trying to figure out how to move in general. Making some progress, [but] it's slower than we expected.”

"He's frustrated. His body has not responded at this point,” Steve Kerr explained.

The possible impact

Iguodala’s presence seemed to matter in one regular-season meeting against the Cavaliers. He helped his team hold LeBron to 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting along with seven turnovers on Christmas Day. However, James went off in the January 18 meeting, dropping 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting. It’s worth noting that he had eight turnovers, though. Most importantly, the Warriors won both games, but Cleveland was essentially a completely different team then (before the wild trade deadline deals).That factors into the equation.

Despite the fact that Golden State would be better with Iguodala healthy and on the court, they might be able to handle the Cavaliers without him, especially since they got past the Rockets, who many regarded as the best team in the league throughout the season.

He will be re-evaluated before Game 2.