Former NBA player Andrew Bogut has retired from basketball after 15 seasons, he announced via his podcast ‘Rogue Bogues’ on Tuesday.
The decision was not an easy one to make for Bogut, who was attempting to prolong his retirement, with hopes that he could represent his homeland of Australia one last time.
But as the Covid-19 pandemic forced the Olympics to be postponed, Bogut felt he did not have enough left in the tank. Since 2018, the 36-year-old had been plagued with injuries, being forced to undergo two surgeries during lockdown, for a bone spur and lower back sciatica.
Bogut said: ‘We’re in late November, early December. I would have made this decision earlier if it wasn’t for the postponement of the Olympics. I was hoping to get to 2020 Tokyo games and then call it a day after that. That would be my fourth Olympics and selfishly obviously, it would have been a great accolade to have four Olympic games under your belt, but it’s just not meant to be. I just can’t physically and mentally get to 2021 with the way the body’s been.’
The 7-foot tall centre spent 14 seasons of his 15-year career in the NBA, after being drafted first overall in the 2005 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.
In 2012 he made a move to California to play for the Golden State Warriors alongside the likes of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, where he ultimately won an NBA Championship in 2015. That same year saw him named to the NBA All-Defensive Second team.
After spending four years in Oakland, the Melbourne native bounced around the NBA, playing brief stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers.
His desire to represent Australia at the Olympics for a fourth time in 2020 led Bogut to signing with the Sydney Kings of the NBL, where he hoped the reduced number of games and lower intensity would allow him to maintain his fitness in the build up to the Olympic games.
However, such serious pain endured by the former NBA champion forced Bogut into retirement as even training sessions proved too challenging to his physical fitness.
Bogut added: ‘My body, from 2018 onwards, was hanging on by a thread… by the 2019 to 2020 season, that thread was completely frayed and beyond hanging by a thread.’
Bogut retires from the sport with a decorated basketball history. Besides an NBA championship, the Aussie was the NBA blocks leader in 2011, and in his short spell in the NBL was named the league’s MVP and best defensive player in 2019.
He has already been cemented as a legend of the college game, with his jersey hanging in the rafters at the University of Utah since 2006, and he will no doubt be remembered similarly by the professional teams for which he played.
By Kit McIntosh
