Warriors center Andrew Bogut has only played in 44 games over the last two years after suffering from a multitude of different injuries to his creaky, 7-foot frame. The 28-year-old Aussie native (he turns 29 near Thanksgiving this year) said in training camp he was 100 percent healthy and playing without restrictions. Maybe that’s why Golden State felt comfortable signing him to a 3-year, $36 million extension yesterday.
New Bleacher Report hire Ric Bucher tweeted the extension news yesterday afternoon, and the specifics of the deal were forthcoming.
USA Today’s Sam Amick tweeted the base salary at 3-years and $36 million, but with Bogut’s injury history there are a lot of incentives based on his ability to stay healthy over the course of the contract.Those incentives could raise the contract to $43 million over the length of the deal, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com.
Base of Andrew Bogut extension with Warriors is three years for $36 million, I'm told, with incentives potentially taking it higher.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) October 25, 2013
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Andrew Bogut's extension with the Warriors contains incentives worth 10-15 percent of $43M and is a full 3-year deal, source tells RealGM.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 25, 2013
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Adrian Wojnarowski of the Yahoo Sports tweets a macro look at the deal:
If Bogut stays on floor, performs like a top five-to-seven center in NBA, incentive clauses are likely to be reached, sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) October 25, 2013
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ESPN’s Marc Stein tweets that the deal will start at $14 million for the 2014-15 season, and then descend in the last two years.
Told Bogut's deal will start in $14 mil range and then salary will descend to give Warriors hint of added flexibility as team moves forward
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) October 25, 2013
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Woj and Amick both have longer pieces on the extension, which came despite Bogut being on the cusp of the final year of his current deal that would pay him $14 million this season. If he hadn’t signed the extension, he’d be a veteran free agent this summer. Because veterans can ask for a fourth and fifth year in the open market, and only sign 3-year extensions, the news is a little rare.
But with Bogut’s injury history, he’s only appeared in 32 of a possible 109 games with the Warriors since coming over from Milwaukee near the deadline during the 2011-12 season, he made the unusual decision to sign the extension before this summer’s free agency.
What do you think?
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