Sydney Kings not willing to cover Andrew Bogut’s contract insurance - NBA Update
Sydney Kings have backed out from covering Andrew Bogut’s $39million Milwaukee Bucks’ contract that means, ensuring that the centre will not be playing in Australian National Basketball League (NBL) this season.
The Bucks centre had been trying to get a contract with the Kings as the National Basketball Association (NBA) continued to be in a lockout. He himself flew to Sydney last month and talked to Sydney Kings’ management and its board
members. However, despite many negotiations, his insurance cover issue remained unsolved.
The news comes after both parties were reportedly close in reaching a deal over the issue. But, early on Friday, Bogut's manager Bruce Kaider left a comment on a social media website, (Twitter),
“I am sorry to say we have been unable to rectify the outstanding issues on Andrew Bogut's insurance with FIBA (International Basketball Federation). We have worked hard over the past week and disappointed Andrew Bogut will not
be suiting up for thes Sydney Kings. We will work now on seeing how Andrew Bogut can still be involved with the Sydney Kings to help grow the game in Australia.”
Sydney Kings’ head coach Ian Robilliard was also very disappointment when he told the media,
“Naturally we are disappointed that Andrew's management could not get the appropriate cover to secure his NBA contract, but the team we are going to put on the court this season is, in my opinion, willing to work for one another;
they will be very exciting to watch.”
The lockout in the NBA is the main reason why Bogut decided to play overseas. Like him, many other NBA players are also pursuing foreign contracts during the work stoppage in the league.
Though, Andrew Bogut failed to secure an insurance cover for his NBA contract, but there are plenty of other professional basketball players, who have already made different deals with several international basketball clubs.
On the other hand, negotiations are taking placing between the NBA owners and the players association but still no progress has been made regarding solving the labour issues. Both sides have been stubborn in their stance over the
new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The owners want to include some new clauses especially hard salary cap and less revenue share from the NBA’s entire income, something, which is not acceptable to players union.
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