Andrew Bogut has announced his retirement from professional basketball.
Widely regarded as one the greatest and most successful players in Australian basketball history, Bogut made the announcement on his Rogue Bogues podcast on Tuesday morning, choosing to put an end to a professional career that spanned 15 years.
It was thought that Bogut, 36, would end his basketball career after the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but the Sydney Kings center has decided to call time early.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, Bogut suited up for five different teams — the Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Los Angeles Lakers — winning one NBA Championship, being named to the All-Rookie First Team (2006), an All-NBA Third Team (2010), an All-Defensive Second Team (2015), while finishing a season as the leader in blocked shots (2011).
After an injury-riddled career in the NBA, the native of Victoria chose to end his career in Australia’s NBL, signing with the Sydney Kings in 2018; going on to win the league’s MVP award in his first season with the team.
During his final season with the Kings, Bogut averaged 8.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game, as the Will Weaver-led team chose to withdraw from the 2020 NBL Grand Final due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 14 years in the NBA, Bogut finished with career averages of 9.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game.
During his time in the NBA, NBL, and with the Australian senior national team, Bogut made a name for himself as one of the best passing big-men in the history of the sport, while also demonstrating himself to be an elite rim protector.
Bogut shot to international stardom at the 2003 FIBA under-19 World Championship, where led Australia to a gold medal, while walking away with the tournament’s most valuable player award. That would lead into a two-year stint at the University of Utah, where, as a sophomore, Bogut was named the Naismith College Player of the Year. His No. 4 jersey was retired by Utah in 2006.
In 2005, Bogut became the first of what’s now three Australians to be taken with the No. 1 overall pick in an NBA Draft, joining the Bucks. In 2012, Bogut was traded to the Warriors, where he would an NBA Championship, playing a key role for Stephen Curry’s team en route to the 2015 title.
The 7-footer had short stints in Dallas, Cleveland, and with the Los Angeles Lakers, before returning to Australia to be with his wife, who was undergoing a high-risk pregnancy.
Bogut’s NBA career had unfortunately been riddled with freak injuries, with the most recent serious diagnosis being a fractured tibia, in early 2017.
Bogut currently lives in Melbourne, and has been based in his hometown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
