Bogut’s body says enough
EVER since Andrew Bogut was a starry- eyed baller bouncing a basketball off the wall of his father’s carburettor business in Melbourne’s southeast, he dreamt of winning an Olympic medal for Australia.
The champion big man was driven to reach his fourth Olympic Games in Tokyo next year following the heartbreak of consecutive fourth
placed finishes in Rio in 2016 and the 2019 World Cup. But in the end his battered body could no longer continue, prompting him to retire from all basketball “immediately”, a difficult decision announced via his own podcast, Rogue Bogues, on Tuesday.
The 36- year- old had been weighing up his future after parting ways with the Sydney Kings in May, wanting to return to the NBL or NBA as a lead- up to Tokyo .
However, following a foot operation as well as back surgery in July, the former NBA number one draft pick, and 2015 champion with the Golden State Warriors, chose to hang up the sneakers.
As hard as it was to retire, and miss out on winning that elusive medal for the Boomers, Bogut knew he had to put his body before basketball.
“I would have made this decision earlier if it wasn’t for the postponement of the Olympics,” he said.
“I was hoping to get to 2020 … and call it a day after that, and that would’ve been my fourth Olympics, and selfishly that would’ve been a great accolade to have four Olympics under your belt, but it’s just not meant to be.
“I can’t physically and mentally get to 2021 with the way the body has been.
“I mean, I could, but with a lot of painkillers and a lot of physical and mental anguish but it is just not worth it at this point in my career.
“With my injury history I knew that if there were two years of NBA basketball playing even 20 minutes a night, I wouldn’t have made it. The decision hasn’t been an easy one, but I think it is right.”
Even though he was finally pain free, Bogut said he wanted to preserve his health for the rest of his life after basketball.
“I’m not going to lie; the last two years have been a real challenge just to get out of bed in the mornings,” he said.