Andrew Bogut is joining the Golden State Warriors, but no matter how well he plays, he won’t be around next season. Or at least he won’t be around at the start of next season.
When Bogut’s NBL team, the Sydney Kings announced that the center would be headed back to the NBA to join the two-time defending champions, they noted that he is still under contract for next season.
OFFICIAL: @andrewbogut will return to the @warriors on a short term contract for the remainder of the current @NBA season.
— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) March 6, 2019
This is an exciting opportunity for both Andrew and the Kings.
Andrew will return to Sydney, and the purple and gold faithful, ready to go for #NBL20 pic.twitter.com/sueC2BoLvu
In other words, Bogut is really just a rental. The Kings and the NBL gave him a letter of clearance allowing him to join the Warriors for the remainder of the season, at which point he’ll go back to resuming his contract with Sydney.
Of course, if the Bogut experiment goes well, there’s always the possibility that the team and player will decide to repeat the process again in 2020, with the former number one overall pick playing out his NBL season and then joining the Warriors for the stretch run.
The Warriors only have one center - Damian Jones - under contract for the 2019-20 season, so some fans have noted that if Bogut plays well the team should re-sign him over the summer, but they won’t be able to do so.
So just enjoy him while you have him, Dub Nation.