Andrew Bogut hits back at claims Sydney Kings made champ ‘the villain’ amid ugly NBL exit

Andrew Bogut has responded to claims the Sydney Kings made a fan favourite the “villain” amid an ugly exit from the NBL heavyweights.

Dejan ‘DJ’ Vasiljevic has accused the Sydney Kings of “making me look like a villain” after the two-time NBL champion signed with the Adelaide 36ers.

Vasiljevic won back-to-back titles with the Kings in the last two NBL seasons before being released from his contract to allow him to chase his dream of playing in the NBA.

The 26-year-old sharpshooter performed well for the Washington Wizards in the NBA Summer League and signed an Exhibit 10 contract.

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But he was waived just days before pre-season training camp and decided to return to the NBL instead of plying his trade out of sight in the second-tier G-League.

This week the Kings released Vasiljevic from his contract and he signed for the Adelaide 36ers, who claimed the NBL wooden spoon last season and are on the bottom of the ladder after five games of the new season.

Instead of being part of the Kings’ bid for a rare NBL championship threepeat, Vasiljevic will compete against his old team and he had a few parting words for them.

“They made me look like the villain, they made Adelaide look like the villain, honestly I’m trying to be the bigger man and walk away from it,” Vasiljevic said of the Kings.

DJ Vasiljevic has joined the Adelaide 36ers. Photo: Instagram.

Vasiljevic won two NBL titles with the Sydney Kings. (Photo by Emily Barker/Getty Images)

“There’s more to it than people think and I’m going to leave it at that.”

Vasiljevic will suit up for the 36ers for the first time in Adelaide’s game against South East Melbourne on Thursday night.

He will play the Kings for the first time in Round 15 on January 11.

“I don’t think we play them until January, so I’m not actually worried about that right now. I’m worried about South East and Perth coming into Adelaide,” he said.

“The guys had a good win against Illawarra and we just have to keep rolling with that momentum.”

Kings CEO Chris Pongrass said he was “disappointed with how this has been handled and another NBL team’s role in the process”.

Australian basketball great Andrew Bogut, who is a co-owner of the Kings, disagreed with Vasiljevic’s account and said the decision to release him was made after the franchise did its due diligence.

“We granted @3jvasiljevic a release after he told us he wanted to “chase his NBA dream”, not his NBL dream with another club,” Bogut wrote on X.

“We then were told last week we had to decide within a day or two if we wanted him as we still had his NBL rights. (He wanted to play last weekend)

“We did our DD and decided to release him late Monday night. There is “nothing more to it” than that.

“It was not a day or two decision as if we elected to keep him we would have to waive someone on our roster.

“We wish him the best of luck and will always remember him as a @SydneyKings @NBLchampion! Good luck DJ!”

Vasiljevic says the Kings made him out to be the villain. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Andrew Bogut said it was a rostering decision and wished Vasiljevic the best. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

The three-point specialist said he chose to return to the NBL in a bid to push his case to be included in the Boomers’ squad for the Paris Olympics.

“I think I just didn’t get the chance in Washington. I was told I was going to go into training camp, got waived two days before and had a whole big discussion with my family and my management around what we thought was best for me,” Vasiljevic said.

“I think this is the right move to come back to the NBL, and with the Olympics coming up next year I want to prove that I should be in that squad.

“I’m in good shape – probably the best I’ve been for a long time.

“I think this is the right move to come back to the NBL, and with the Olympics coming up next year I want to prove that I should be in that squad,” he said.

“I’m in good shape – probably the best I’ve been for a long time.

“I think I’m right there, I just need to prove myself a little bit more and we’ll see what happens. We’ve got a couple of FIBA windows coming up and I’ll do my diligence and make sure I put my hand up always to represent the green and gold – it’s always an honour.”