When Andrew Bogut became a member of the Dallas Mavericks, by way of a trade from the Golden State Warriors, you always kind of knew the marriage would be temporary.
Bogut turned 32 in November and is a free agent after this season. Though the Mavericks are forever obsessed with making the most of Dirk Nowitzki’s twilight, no matter how much he has left, surely they wouldn’t reinvest in an injury-prone center who, this summer, will be approaching his 33rd birthday.
Rarely, if ever, do you see players being so open about such a situation. But Bogut isn’t most players, and therefore, he has no qualms about admitting that he’ll be with a new team next season.
As he told told Australia’s Sky Sports Radio (via ESPN.com):
“Thankfully, I’m a free agent here, so I only have a couple of months more here and then will most likely move on,” Bogut told Sky Sports. “I don’t see myself hanging around with everything that’s gone on. It will be an interesting six months ahead.”
Asked by Sky Sports Radio whether he expected to be dealt before the Feb. 23 trade deadline, the Australian native replied, “You never know.”
There is, as Bogut alluded to, a strong chance his tenure with the Mavericks ends even sooner. He is now coming off the bench since he and Nowitzki cannot really survive on the floor together, and his expiring salary presents a low-risk, high-reward gambit for teams in need of a defensive anchor at the stretch run.
Dallas is still within in sniffing distance of the Western Conference playoff race, so it’s possible it holds onto to Bogut for the rest of the year in hopes of boosting its depth and sneaking into the postseason.
But that’s the extent of Bogut’s future in Big D.
