As their bench continues to flounder over three weeks removed from tipoff of the regular season, it's become clear the Golden State Warriors have a much bigger on-court role for Andre Iguodala than initially anticipated. Too bad the four-time champion is still nowhere near ready to make his 2022-23 debut.

Steve Kerr on Wednesday updated the timeline for Iguodala's return, clarifying that he won't be taking the floor “anytime soon” despite a recent ramp up in his practice activities.

“It just means he's not close to playing in a game, and it also means we're going to take our time,” Kerr said when asked what it means that Iguodala has yet to scrimmage, per NBC Sports Bay Area. “Again, as we said in the preseason, we want Andre healthy for the back stretch.

“He's not gonna play in a game anytime soon. But he's continuing to work and ramp up the quality of his work.”

Iguodala is currently listed as out due to left hip injury management.

He posted a cryptic tweet following the Warriors' ugly loss to the Orlando Magic last week, making it easy to believe that Iguodala was hinting at a debut for Friday's highly anticipated matchup with the surging Cleveland Cavaliers at Chase Center.

Iguodala has yet to appear for Golden State this season after spending the majority of the summer mulling retirement. He announced his return for a final season two days before training camp, insisting he spent the offseason planning to have already played his last NBA game.

The Warriors' bench has struggled en masse since the season began, and lineup changes Kerr made in his team's sorely needed win over the Sacramento Kings on Monday made no difference. Golden State, clearly, is still searching for rotational answers behind its vaunted starting five.

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Iguodala's role flexibility, two-way poise and overall understanding mean he might be pressed into more playing time when it matters most than anyone envisioned prior to the Warriors' dispiriting 4-6 start. But that's a discussion to be had for when the 18th-year veteran is finally cleared to play, and at this point there's no telling when that may be.

[h/t Dalton Johnson, NBC Sports Bay Area]