Andrew Bogut’s Sydney Kings deal offers ‘skin in the game’

Andrew Bogut’s Sydney Kings deal includes provisions for the star to take part-ownership of the franchise when he retires.

Andrew Bogut as he is unveiled as a Sydney Kings player. Picture: Getty Images.

World-renown Australian basketball star Andrew Bogut has revealed he signed with the Sydney Kings because the deal offered him some “skin in the game” in the form of a financial stake in the team and the option to purchase more equity over time.

At a packed press conference at Sydney Olympic Park this morning, Bogut said “it’s not necessarily about money, I have made a lot of money in my career.”

But he said the two year deal negotiated with Kings managing director Jeff Van Groningen and others offered the equity stake and the opportunity to continue to promote his own brand.

“I’ll be able to promote myself and support the National Basketball League,” Bogut said.

Asked how much the deal was worth, Bogut said:

“My minimum in the US would be $US2.2 million. It’s less than that. But not much less than that.”

Bogut said he had been made offers to play in China for up to $US2 million tax free.

The key to the deal struck with the Australian team, which he said had been negotiated over three intense days starting only last Friday, was that he would become “a shareholder in the Sydney Kings.”

“There is 10 per cent waiting for me once I have done playing,” Bogut said.

“I have the option to buy in more, I want some skin in the game.”

Andrew Bogut during a media conference as he is unveiled as a Sydney Kings player. Picture: Getty Images.

Melbourne-born Bogut, 33, joins the Kings after more than a decade in top level basketball in the US.

He said he had wanted to return to Australia with his toddler and pregnant wife at a point in his career where “I have a lot left in the tank.”

“I am here to win games, this isn’t an exercise to just sell tickets,” Bogut said.

“I am still a basketball player, and I want to get this franchise back where it belongs,” he said.

Andrew Bogut. Picture: Josie Hayden.

“The culture will change here. We will win more games.”

Bogut, at 7 feet or 213cm, towered over the press conference, held at Qudos Bank Arena, the Sydney Kings’ home ground where he will start playing when the season opens in October.

Van Groningen told journalists “this is a transformational signing for our club, and I believe for our league.”

“We think we can put a product on the floor that is really, really, really highly competitive.”

Sydney Kings head coach Andrew Gaze said “I don’t think in the history of our competition that we have been able to have a signing like this ... it’s a landmark day.”

Gaze said that awhile ago he had once been asked by Van Groningen whether the team might be able to lure Bogut to join.

“I said to Jeff, ‘well that’s fanciful’.”

Being an “excitable” type himself, Gaze said, when the negotiations with Bogut were underway, “they did the right thing and didn’t tell me,” only letting him know when the deal was done.

NBL general manager Jeremy Loeliger said the signing of Bogut was “nothing short of enormous” and would help catapult the league to greater popular success, including more free to air television coverage.

Jeff Van Groningen, Kings Managing Director, Andrew Gaze, Kings Coach, Andrew Bogut, Larry Kestelman, NBL Owner and Jeremy Loeliger, NBL CEO. Picture: Getty Images.