OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors have landed a coveted free agent -- just not the one everybody was talking about. The Warriors reached an agreement with swingman Andre Iguodala on a $48 million, four-year deal Friday, two people with knowledge of the situation said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because NBA rules prevent confirmation of moves until July 10. One person said the Warriors cleared more than $24 million in salary cap space by sending Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins and Brandon Rush to the Utah Jazz along with a package of draft picks. Yahoo Sports, which first reported the deal, said the Warriors were only taking back Kevin Murphy and his non-guaranteed $788,000 deal for next season. Utah also will receive multiple draft picks from Golden State, including its 2014 and 2017 first-round picks. While the Warriors had hoped to sign Dwight Howard, the seven-time All-Star centre informed the team he would not sign with them. Howard wrote on Twitter a few hours later that the Houston Rockets are "the best place for me." Instead, Golden State unloaded its expiring contracts for what it believes was the next best player on the market. The complicated moves give the rejuvenated franchise, fresh off an appearance in the second round of the playoffs and with a stockpile of promising young talent, a potent scorer and perimeter defender to team with point guard Stephen Curry and company. And for Iguodala, its a chance to play with another contender. Iguodala averaged 13 points, 5.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds last season for the Denver Nuggets, who lost in six games to the Warriors in the opening round of the playoffs. He spent his first eight years in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers and has averaged 15.1 points on 46 per cent shooting for his career. The Nuggets were hoping to entice Iguodala to come back to the Mile High City, especially because he could return on a five-year deal while the most he could get elsewhere was four years. The Nuggets offered Iguodala a five-year contract worth $60 million with $52 million guaranteed, a person familiar with the situation said, adding that Iguodala wouldve made only $4 million in the final year of the frontloaded deal. Sacramento, led by new general manager and former Denver executive Pete DAlessandro, also sought Iguodalas services. The Kings reportedly offered Iguodala a four-year deal worth at least $52 million but pulled the offer when Iguodala didnt immediately agree, in part, because they didnt want to be used as leverage. The departure of Denvers top defender could be a big blow to a team that won a franchise-best 57 games during the regular season only to flop in the first round again. This already had been a tumultuous off-season for the Nuggets, who had NBA Executive of the Year Masai Ujiri leave to take over as general manager in Toronto. Later, the team severed ties with Coach of the Year George Karl. A few Nuggets players turned to Twitter to express their feelings on Iguodalas decision to bolt for the Warriors. "It was a pleasure. Great guy!" forward Wilson Chandler wrote. Speedy point guard Ty Lawson said: "Smh!!!!" (shaking my head) and later added, "Business is business." Iguodala even sent a message to Curry that ended with the phrase, "LETS GET IT!!!!" Curry responded by saying it would be a great four years. On the flip side, the biggest boon for Utah might be three veterans with expiring contracts, which will give the Jazz tons of space when a slew of top free agents hit the open market next summer. Jefferson is due about $11 million, Biedrins $9 million and Rush $4 million in the final year of their deals. While production from Jefferson and Biedrins has declined substantially, Rush was considered Golden States top reserve and perimeter defender until he tore a ligament in his left knee in the home opener. Rush has averaged 9.1 points and 3.6 rebounds since he was drafted 13th overall out of Kansas in 2008 by Portland, which immediately traded him to Indiana. "Only makes me work harder," Rush tweeted. The Warriors had been chasing Iguodala for years, but the right move never came together until now. General manager Bob Myers had said all along that despite the teams perceived salary cap restrictions that a big-time free agent could be signed this summer. The Warriors also will renounce their rights to restricted free agent guard Jarrett Jack to clear space for Iguodala -- a price they believe is more than enough for his addition, which could push standout rookie Harrison Barnes into a reserve role, albeit a leading one. Jack had helped the Warriors go from a 23-43 team during the lockout-shortened season to a 47-35 team last year, earning the conferences sixth seed and upsetting Denver in the first round. But mounting injuries wore the Warriors down and the eventual Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs sent Golden State home in six games. "Well," Jack wrote on Twitter, "it was fun while it lasted." Gregory Polanco Jersey . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. Francisco Liriano Jersey . The move comes after the Canadiens were approached by the Buffalo Sabres for permission to speak to Dudley - a former Sabres player and head coach. 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The sign-off for the regulation changes, which could make cars five seconds per lap quicker through wider tires and increased downforce, needs to be made by Saturday and was due to take place earlier this week.However, Sky Sports understands race promoters who sit on the F1 Commission did not attend the pre-Russian GP meeting, and the matter will now be decided by electronic vote. Team bosses appear to be split on whether the changes are good for the sport, with Toto Wolff and Christian Horner presenting different arguments, and it appears drivers remain unconvinced. Whens the Russian GP on Sky? The Russian GP is live and exclusive on Sky Sports - and there are a host of ways you can watch it. Our opinion was its not the right direction to go, championship leader Nico Rosberg said. We we were hoping they would re-look at it and double check the technical point of view. This is the way it is, all we can do is accept it. We hope there are some surprises. Maybe well love the cars, even more than now. Maybe the grip will feel great. Nows just about waiting and making the most of it.While wider tyres should increase mechanical grip and help the show, adding more downforce is only likely to increase the dirty airflow which currently makes it nigh on impossible for one car to follow another closely. Force India driver Sergio Perez was similarly unimpressed by the proposed tweaks.I really hope we can see more competition between the teams, he said. In my opinion, F1 needs more competition, rather than downforce.Haas Esteban Gutierrez, meanwhile, added: What we need is to increase the mechanical grip of the tyres. Downforce would make following a car more difficult, but we dont have an option. Nico Rosberg is happy with his early season championship lead, but still thinks Lewis Hamilton sets the standard in F1 Daniil Kvyat seemed to be the only man in Thursdays Drivers Press Conference willing to provide a different point of view.ddddddddddddIt could make it interesting, the Red Bull driver said. They have limited time to prepare it so everyone might start in similar positions which could mean closer racing, perhaps.F1 2017: What are the proposed rules?If downforce is generated in the right way and with the mechanical grip from the tyres, it could be interesting for racing. To reach incredible speeds would be quite cool.The strategy group and F1 Commission were due to meet in London on Tuesday to thrash out the final details for the rules package and while the vote didnt go through and didnt include drivers, Rosberg is confident they will get more of a say in the future. This is after GPDA penned a hard-hitting open letter to F1 stakeholders ahead of the Bahrain GP last month, calling for a restructuring of the sports governance after a number of unpopular rule changes.Weve been trying to get more involved and its actually moving in right direction, the German said. The FIA are asking us more things now, they want to hear our opinion and theyre asking us for get-togethers. The process is going well, I think. With time, lets see how it goes. We think we are wise enough to help the sport.Watch the whole Russian GP weekend - LIVE ONLY on Sky Sports F1. The race begins at 1pm on Sunday, with build-up from 11.30am. Or watch the race without a contract for £6.99 on NOW TV. Also See: Red Bull to trial canopy in P1 Nico: Rivals had messy starts ' ' '