Even as the Golden State Warriors pursued a record regular season and a second straight trip to The Finals, Andrew Bogut knew he could leave the team in the offseason as part of their pursuit of Kevin Durant.
"That's part of the business," said Bogut. "I think the deal was done long before the summer. I think it was done -- obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen. That's just a part of it. Andre [Iguodala] and I knew it was one of us that was going to go, and it was me. That's part of the business. I have no gripes about it. You get a Hall of Famer -- he's going to be a Hall of Famer -- in K.D. If I'm the GM, I do the same deal. That's just the reality of the business."
The Warriors accommodated Bogut by trading him to the Dallas Mavericks.
"I've always liked the city -- first off -- off the court," said Bogut. "It's kind of a big city, but it's spread out, just kind of more suited to me. I'm not a huge metropolitan kind of guy, so that fit in. And then the organization, everybody that fits here speaks very highly of the way they treat their players, the things they do for their players. It's no secret that it's my 12th year, so I need any help I can get."