Andrew Bogut Sydney Kings contract for NBL 2020 season news
Andrew Bogut’s future in the NBL has been tossed into the air after the star centre announced he has decided not to re-sign with the Kings.
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Andrew Bogut has announced he has decided not to re-sign with the Sydney Kings or any of his NBL rivals.
The 35-year-old released a lengthy statement on Monday to reveal he won’t be signing any contracts any time soon as a result of the deep uncertainty across the global basketball industry in recent months.
Bogut said in March he was considering retiring — but stressed in his Monday statement that his latest update is not a “retirement note”.
Basketball leagues around the world have been faced with tremendous upheaval since the outbreak of coronavirus and the global restrictions that have followed it.
The 2019-20 NBA season was shut down in March. The NBL’s grand final series was also sensationally cancelled with Perth leading Sydney 2-1 in the five-game series.
The chaos across the basketball world is now forcing Bogut to contemplate a break from the sport as NBL teams begin their roster and contract negotiations ahead of the 2020-21 season.
Bogut posted to Twitter on Monday
He is now out of contract and without a team for the next NBL season. Bogut famously joined the Kings from the NBA after signing a deal that allowed him a stake in the Kings organisation, joining the team’s ownership group.
“I have decided not to sign with the Sydney Kings, or any professional sporting team for that matter for the time being,’’ Bogut wrote in the post.
‘‘This by no means is a retirement note, but simply saying any concrete decisions are too hard to be made at this point in time.
‘‘The reason I have decided to do this now is to give the Sydney Kings enough notice to act accordingly with free agency being around the corner.’’
Note re: @SydneyKings and my Basketball future pic.twitter.com/1T6GndluAO
— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) May 25, 2020
He said the down time has been good for his body and soul.
“My body is enjoying the break after playing basketball for 19 straight months and I hope to be back out on the basketball court in the near future,” he said.
“The plan moving forward? Spending time with my wife and kids, slowly getting back into physical shape, and finally making the most out of time we don’t traditionally get at home.”
Bogut in March sent a scare through the NBL when he announced he couldn’t handle the prospect of another injury-plagued season in the physical NBL.
He told The Daily Telegraph at the time chasing an Olympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games was a major motivation.
However, with the Olympics postponed until 2021, all bets are off.
“I’ve got something left — how much that is, well, that is the question,” Bogut said.
“To be honest, I can’t go through another season like this year, both mentally and physically. I just wouldn’t do it. I had a tough season injury wise.
“A lot of that was because I got hurt at the World Cup, played through that and then came into camp unhealthy with a bad ankle.
“I then re-injured it in pre-season and from there I was never 100 per cent.
“I don’t want people to think that I’m using it as an excuse, but the reality was that I was never close to 100 per cent this whole season.”
Originally published as Andrew Bogut Sydney Kings contract for NBL 2020 season news