National Basketball League CEO in favor of Andrew Bogut playing for the Warriors again next season

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OAKLAND – If not for Andrew Bogut’s return, perhaps the CEO of Australia’s National Basketball League would not have attended a recent Warriors game.

Jeremy Loeliger also would not have been in the Bay Area this week to meet with Facebook, Google, Twitter and Amazon officials. Once Bogut opted out of his contract with the Sydney Kings and returned to the Warriors, Loeliger’s business meetings suddenly increased.

“We want to be the little brother of the NBA. We don’t have any problem with players playing in the NBA or aspiring to go to the NBA,” Loeliger said. “If we happen to lose a player to the NBA, that’s a good news story for us.”

Therefore, Loeliger would love for Bogut to duplicate this year’s itinerary in 2020. Bogut plans to return to the Sydney Kings to honor his two-year contract. He said he has no aspirations to play in the NBA full time since he wants to raise his young kids in his native Australia. And Bogut expressed possible interest recently with returning to the Warriors mid-way through the season following the NBL’s season in February.

“We want the best thing for all three parties,” Loeliger said. “We want Andrew to come back to the Kings. Don’t get me wrong. But we also want him to come over to the NBA. We want him to win a championship with the Warriors. That’s fantastic press for us back home.”

Loeliger also touted other successful stories involving Australian basketball. After playing with the NBL’s Adelaide 36ers (2016-17), Terrence Ferguson has played with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past two years. Former McDonald’s All-American and Louisville commit Brian Bowen plays professionally for the Sydney Kings. And after playing in various NBL teams (2014-2017), Torrey Craig signed a two-year deal with the Denver Nuggets.

Nothing compares to Bogut’s impact, though. After becoming a key piece of the Warriors’ 2015 NBA championship run with effective defense and screen setting, Bogut returned to the Warriors four years later to offer those same qualities albeit with a diminished role. The Warriors found Bogut’s signing instrumental in helping them absorb likely season-ending injuries to DeMarcus Cousins (left quad muscle) and Damian Jones’ (left pectoral muscle).

The Warriors would also consider signing Bogut again, though that hinges on other unknown variables. Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Cousins, Kevon Looney and Jordan Bell will all be free agents this summer. Jones is the lone center under contract for next season.

Loeliger, though, has already signed off on the idea presuming the Kings are interested.

“He has a good reason to want to come back and do it,” Loeliger said of Bogut. “I think it will keep him at that level of fitness where he can come back and get back into the playoffs. I think it’s an economical insurance policy for the Warriors to have and not have to play him 82 games in the regular season. It certainly has my blessing and endorsement. It has been great for us. It could set an interesting precedent as well.”

The 34-year-old Bogut has reported losing a significant amount of weight and feeling healthier after playing only 30 games with the Sydney Kings with multiple days to recover and train in between contests. That hardly matches the NBA’s 82-game schedule, which features more sets of back-to-backs and multiple stops in various cities. Then just as the Warriors start feeling the strain of the NBA season, Bogut could return and help them feel more revitalized.

“To Andrew’s credit, he was really fit coming into game one of that season,” Loeliger said of Bogut’s time with the Kings. “I bumped into him a few times during his rehab process. At one point, I thought he was sick. But he just lost weight. He looked so fit for somebody that wasn’t playing basketball. I was a bit worried. It turns out he had a lot of hard work looking after himself. By the time game one rolled around, he wasn’t a guy trying to find his legs again and get back into it.”

Hence, it is not clear when Bogut will retire from playing professional basketball. Nonetheless, Loeliger said the NBL has already had conversations with Bogut about having a role with the Kings. Loeliger added the Kings will pay Bogut an undisclosed amount of equity whenever he retires and that he has the option purchase a larger portion of the team’s ownership stake.

Bogut expressed interest in coaching once his kids complete high school in over a decade from now. But Loeliger sounded open minded on whether Bogut would eventually become an executive or coach with the Kings.

“More likely than not, he’s going to be involved in the front office with the Sydney Kings,” Loeliger said. “But I’d certainly be open to both possibilities. He’s definitely an asset.”

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