Programming note: Watch the pregame edition of Warriors Outsiders on Friday night at 6 PT, streaming live on the MyTeams app.
Andrew Bogut put pen to paper Wednesday. He’s officially a member of the Golden State Warriors again.
Although things escalated quickly in the last couple of days, the process of bringing the Aussie big man back to the Bay Area began months ago.
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The No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft thought his NBA career was over. But then the two-time defending champions came calling.
Marc Stein of The New York Times has the details:
The Warriors began lobbying Bogut to rejoin them in December and made it to March with a roster opening for the 7-foot center, who wasn’t available to be signed until the Kings’ season ended last weekend.
“I was kind of blown away,” Bogut said in a telephone interview from Australia. “This wasn’t a situation where I threw my hat in the ring to try to get signed in the NBA. I wouldn’t do that.
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“To come back to the NBA, for me, was basically Golden State or nothing. But the fact it was Golden State — it was the kind of opportunity that I would be kicking myself if I didn’t take.”
If you recall, Damian Jones' season ended when he tore his pectoral muscle during the Warriors' Dec. 1 loss at Detroit. So, it makes sense that Golden State connected with Bogut at some point shortly thereafter.
It's been widely reported that the Warriors had Robin Lopez at the top of their wish list. But once he and the Bulls failed to reach terms on a buyout, "Golden State intensified its pursuit of Bogut as soon as the (Sydney) Kings were eliminated from the N.B.L. playoffs," Stein wrote.
[RELATED: Bogut has no hard feelings about how first Warriors tenure concluded]
Considering the fact that Bogut held a press conference in Sydney on Wednesday (technically Thursday in Australia), it seems unlikely that he will play Friday night against the Nuggets in Oakland.
Perhaps his debut will be Sunday against the Suns? We will see if Warriors coach Steve Kerr provides an update after practice Thursday.