Former Warriors and Australian team center Andrew Bogut announced Tuesday morning from his homeland that he was retiring from all levels of professional basketball.
The 36-year-old Bogut had hoped to end his career in the Summer Olympics — first in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic pushed the Tokyo Games back one year.
“The decision hasn’t been an easy one, but I think it is the right decision,” Bogut said on his Rogues Bogues podcast. “The decision that I made and where I will be signing for next season is absolutely nowhere. I will be retiring from professional basketball, effective immediately.
“We are in late November now. I would have made this decision earlier if it wasn’t for the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. I was hoping to get to the 2020 Olympics and call it the day after that, as it would have been a great accolade to get a fourth Olympics, but it’s just not meant to be.”
Bogut, part of a controversial trade at the time from Milwaukee to the Warriors for the popular Monta Ellis in March 2012, missed most of 2011–12 with an ankle injury.
But in the 2014-15 season, Bogut was a key defensive presence and passer from the center position as the Warriors went on to won the NBA championship in 2015, the first of the team’s five consecutive trips to the Finals. He helped the Warriors win an NBA-record 73 games in 2015–16 before they lost in the Finals.
He was then traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he played briefly before other short stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers. In 2018, he returned to his home country to play for the Sydney Kings. After the end of the 2018–19 NBL season, Bogut signed back with the Warriors.
Bogut was the college player of the year at Utah for the 2004-05 season and chosen No. 1 overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.
He played parts of 14 NBA seasons and had career averages of 9.6 points and 8.7 rebounds in 706 games (661 starts).
Bogut blocked 1,091 shots during his NBA career and led the league in 2010-11 with a 2.6 average.
Bogut finished his career in Australia with the Sydney Kings and was named National Basketball League MVP in 2018.
Bogut, who lives in Melbourne, said he could no longer handle the physical demands of playing basketball.
“I’m really starting to value my health away from the court and my health when I’m 40, 45, and 50,” Bogut said. “Some people might say it’s only six months of training, but I’m at a point where I just can’t do it.”
Bogut represented Australia in the 2004, 2008 and 2016 Olympics. He missed the 2012 Olympics due to a broken ankle.
