Milwaukee Bucks centre Andrew Bogut close to inking an agreement with Gold Coast Blaze: NBA update
Milwaukee Bucks centre Andrew Bogut is all set to sign an agreement with the Australian professional basketball club Gold Coast Blaze. On Wednesday, he met with the Blaze management in Melbourne and after the meeting tweeted about it.
“Had a good meeting with the @GCBlaze today! Will try and make decision this weekend. Will be tough!!”
Bogut has meeting with Blaze’s chief executive Paul Pamenter and head coach Joey Wilright. Although, the meeting is understood to be successful, but there has been no official thus far from the Blaze management. However, the CEO of Blaze Paul Pamenter did state in the media about the prospect of bringing Bogut into the Gold Coast Blaze.
“We'll be tabling an offer, We've obviously got one eye on the whole lockout progress as to how long that really should extend out for and we're still waiting on a certain amount of the detail to come through in relation to the insurance component. But I wouldn't be doing my job if I weren't at least having the conversation with them. It's easy to get excited but it's also hard to really gauge (where we are in the race for his signature), it’s certainly an exciting time.”
In the last few weeks, several other NBL clubs have also shown interest in signing Bogut. Sydney Kings, the Perth Wildcats, Adelaide 36ers have been the front runners in this regard. On Sunday 11th September, Andrew Bogut flew to Australia and met with the Sydney Kings’ management to discuss the possibility of his playing chances in the National Basketball League (NBL) during the lockout.
However, no progress has been made as yet regarding. The biggest thaw in these negotiations is understood to be the cost of Bogut’s insurance which at 5, 00,000 is way too high for the Aussie clubs. However given the advantages, both professional and commercial, that Bogut can bring along with him, the money might be worth spending.
If the deal goes through, Bogut will be the second NBA player after Patrick Mills of the Portland Trail Blazers to sign a deal with an Australian club during the lockout.
Tags: