San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Finding new life in a familiar spot
MINNEAPOLIS — The hardest part for Andrew Bogut during his tumultuous 2½ years between Warriors stints came in the spring of 2017, when he was crammed into a hospital hotel room in Cleveland for four weeks with his family.
Bogut had just broken his left leg 56 seconds into his Cavaliers debut. Unable to go home because of relentless swelling, he was forced to watch his wife, Jessica, juggle the responsibilities of a newborn son while tending to her husband — from making dinner to helping him get out of bed and use the bathroom.
“It was like my wife had a second child at the time,” Bogut said recently. “And we’re in Cleveland. It’s not like I can sit outside in the sun and get my mind off things.”
“It’s such a sweet experience. It could be the last three months of my NBA
career, which I didn’t think I’d get anyway.”
— Andrew Bogut, Warriors center
Between being dealt by Golden State to Dallas in summer 2016 and resigning with the Warriors on March 6, Bogut was waived three times. He also mourned the death of his grandfather, and Jessica endured a high-risk pregnancy. Now a backup center on the team he won his first and only championship with in 2015, Bogut believes that rash of adversity has made his latest go-around even sweeter. Teammates say he looks happier and more refreshed than he did during his first stint with the Warriors (2012-16). At the team dinner Thursday night in Minneapolis, Bogut told Stephen Curry about how things that bothered him three years ago no longer irk him. Two young children and a season in his native Australia, where Bogut sometimes went a week between games, allowed him to rediscover his passion for the game.
“For him, he’s just happy he’s got room service and charter flights and a nice per diem,” Curry said with a chuckle. “I’m sure that will rejuvenate anybody.”
In July 2016, when it became clear that the Warriors needed to trade him to free up salary-cap space for Kevin Durant, Bogut listed Dallas as one of his preferred destinations. But he struggled to play next to Dirk Nowitzki and was dealt after 26 games to Philadelphia, which promptly bought out Bogut’s contract.
In his first Cleveland game on March 6, 2017, Bogut was guarding Miami forward Okaro White along the perimeter when White’s knee collided into Bogut’s lower leg. Bogut hobbled to mid-court and crumpled to the floor.
“That’s when the spiral kind of started for me,” Bogut said.
Over the next month, as he sat in his hotel room connected to the Cleveland Clinic, Bogut grew stir-crazy. His infant son, Luka, was crying through the night. Tired of daytime TV after a couple of weeks, Bogut — never much of a videogame player — bought a PlayStation 4 to pass the doldrums.
When finally cleared to return to his hometown of Melbourne, Australia, Bogut started working out in hopes of beginning on-court work in six to nine months. It took him four.
Eager to join an NBA training camp, Bogut said he signed a nonguaranteed contract in September 2017 with the Lakers under the assurance that he wouldn’t get waived as long as he looked healthy. Bogut slowly worked back into playing shape, only for the Lakers to waive him after 24 games.
“It was frustrating, but that’s just the industry,” Bogut said. “No one keeps their word, especially with all the general managers out there and whatnot. It is what it is.”
Bogut sent his infant son and pregnant wife home to Melbourne while he stayed in Los Angeles to train for a chance with a playoffbound team. After a few weeks networking with interested franchises, he received a call around 2 a.m. from his sister saying that their elderly grandfather, Mile, had died in his sleep.
Mile and his wife, Zdenka, had long lived in a house Bogut bought for them just a five-minute drive from their grandson. While Bogut was back in the Melbourne area for Mile’s funeral, Jessica’s pregnancy was determined to be highrisk. She had gotten pregnant again too soon after birthing Luka via caesarean section.
Not wanting to leave his wife during such a tense period, Bogut decided to reach out to teams in Australia’s National Basketball League. In April, at his introductory news conference with the Sydney Kings, Bogut announced that he was retiring from the NBA.
The NBL’s spaced-out schedule — in five months, Sydney played just 30 games — afforded Bogut much-needed rest. Slimmed down and agile for his size, he averaged 11.4 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in 29.8 minutes to earn the NBL’s MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards. Although he received interest from multiple NBA teams, Bogut was only willing to return stateside to chase another championship with the Warriors.
“They were really the only team I spoke with,” said Bogut, whose wife gave birth to another healthy boy last summer. “I didn’t even tell my agent. He didn’t even know I was talking to Golden State throughout the NBL season.”
Bogut has offered the Warriors more than just another big man capable of matching the size and strength of some of the league’s top centers. A defensive savant, he has teamed with Draymond Green to help organize Golden State on that side of the ball.
Bogut’s easygoing, sarcastic approach has lightened the vibe in a locker room that has been uncharacteristically tense in recent months. By simply showing up, he also provides a reminder of Warriors history. It was only four years ago that Bogut helped anchor the interior on an upstart group that rode a free-wheeling brand of basketball to the franchise’s first NBA title in 40 years.
“Part of the deal that makes it so exciting for us is that (Bogut) has come back recharged and refreshed,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s in a really good place. He’s happy. He’s excited to share the NBA experience with his older son, who’s old enough now at 3 to appreciate it.”
Bogut has already set up baby gates at the Bay Area home his family is renting for the next few months. Two years after sharing a cramped hospital hotel room in Cleveland, the Boguts should have plenty of room to roam in their new — and old — city.
“It’s such a sweet experience,” said Bogut, who is averaging 3.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 12.2 minutes per game. “It could be the last three months of my NBA career, which I didn’t think I’d get anyway. So, it’s a bonus for me.”
Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron
“Part of the deal that makes it so exciting for us is that (Bogut) has come back recharged and refreshed.”
— Steve Kerr, Warriors coach