Aussies in NBA: Durant in, Bogut out?
If you're a Golden State Warriors fan, life is pretty sweet right now. The team sits at the top of the Western Conference with a 45-4 record and are undoubtedly the team to beat. They are legitimately chasing 73 wins, and it's testament to their dominance that no one would be too surprised if they really do manage it.
So what do you do when you've got such a good thing going? Don't rock the boat (baby)? Keep it steady, don't fix what's not broken?
Stuff that, let's try to sign Kevin Durant!
Of course, all this is still speculation. It will take a few months to ascertain the veracity of this #wojbomb. But if it were to actually come to fruition, it would likely involve the Dubs cutting ties with Andrew Bogut. Bogues still has a year left on his contract, paying him over $12m, but it might not be the Warriors writing his paychecks next year.
Talking to SiriusXM NBA Radio, Bogey had a typically-Bogey response to the swirling rumours.
"If you were a player would you want to join our team?" There has likely never been an easier question to answer in the history of the world. Bogut went on to provide a well-measured and mature outlook on the whole situation.
"Who knows where it's coming from -- probably a mix of his agent, creating whatever it is from that aspect. We're not too worried about it; funnier things have happened in this league, so I definitely wouldn't be shocked if something like that happened."
He's right; anything can happen in the NBA, and shipping out considerable assets to bring in a star is something Golden State has had recent experience with. And hey, it's Kevin Freakin' Durant we're talking about here. Just about everyone save Stephen Curry and Draymond Green (and maybe Klay Thompson) are potential salary dump casualties in this case.
That said, offseason is likely to be when everything kicks off, and not a moment before. Bogut seemed quite confident of that.
"We like the team that we have," Bogut said. "I doubt we'll make any trades, but offseason is a different story. But like I said, who knows in this league."
July 1 2016 is shaping up to be a doozy.