Andrew Bogut reveals Luc Longley could influence his retirement plan
Andrew Bogut has revealed advice from Boomers legend Luc Longley about the perils of playing too long will play a major role in when he decides to pull the pin on his decorated career.
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Sydney Kings star Andrew Bogut has revealed advice from Boomers legend Luc Longley about the perils of playing too long will play a major role in his decision to retire or extend his stellar career beyond 2020.
Bogut is heading into his second and final season with the Kings after dominating last year to claim MVP honours.
The veteran big man, who turns 35 next month, remains undecided about his future beyond the 2019-2020 NBL season.
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Bogut’s plan is to make a decision post the Boomers campaign at the Tokyo Olympics next July and August.
He confirmed he will also listen heavily to the wise words of Longley, whose NBA career came to crashing halt in 2001 due to a degenerate condition in his left ankle.
Bogut is currently battling an ankle injury, so he is taking the advice of the three-time NBA champion with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls seriously.
“Speaking to Luc he said his ankle problems are huge,” Bogut told The Daily Telegraph.
“His body is banged up but he has stayed in relatively decent shape.
“That is something that I’ve been thinking about a little bit as well.
“But my mindset is to get to the Tokyo Olympics and see what happens.
“Right now I don’t have my mind made up either way.
“Two years ago when I signed I didn’t think the NBA would happen again and it did.
“That could happen again — who knows.
“I’ll go to Tokyo and then sit down with the family and see how the body is.”
Bogut also hasn’t ruled out playing at least one more NBL season in 2020/2021.
“Possibly but it all depends on what the family plan is,” he said.
“I’ve got two young boys that I want to be around.
“The NBL helps with that as it isn’t as strenuous and then it will come down to the body.
“As much as I’m feeling good now, I know that every extra year from this point forward is going to hinder me when I’m 50.
“On one hand you don’t want to give it up too early but on the other hand you don’t want to get to a point where you are 38 or 40 and finished.”
Bogut sat out Sydney’s final trial against Illawarra on Sunday due to his ankle but he declared he was ready to start in Friday’s season-opener against the Taipans in Cairns.
He will train on Wednesday and Thursday to prepare for the match.
“I’ll be good to go,” he said.
“It is just something that I’ve carried throughout the Worlds and I hurt it two days before the start of that tournament, which wasn’t ideal.
“I then tweaked it the other night (against the Breakers). I guess it is a little bit of bad luck but I anticipate getting through the whole game unscathed.”
Bogut is expecting big things from a rejuvenated Kings franchise that has eight new players and a new head coach in Will Weaver.
The former NBA champion believes coach Weaver has instilled a strong ethos throughout the club.
“It is a very different culture,” Bogut said.
“We’ve made a lot of changes but I think it was a time where we went as far as we could with the group that we had.
“As harsh as that sounds, that is the reality of pro sports.
“I feel like we now have a lot of younger guys that we can develop that we can develop for the future and we have a lot of good support staff and genuine hardworking people who want the club to succeed.”
Originally published as Andrew Bogut reveals Luc Longley could influence his retirement plan