Andrew Bogut could only laugh upon hearing a recent comment made by Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James. During All-Star weekend, James said he was unsure about wanting a retirement farewell tour. He claimed he had never been great at accepting praise, and Bogut posted laughing emojis when he saw that.
https://twitter.com/andrewbogut/status/1759718306083405903
I would say LeBron has been very comfortable accepting praise. As that post which Bogut quoted alluded to, James has a “Chosen One” tattoo on his back. He had been dubbed the “Chosen One” by Grant Wahl when he was still in high school, and the 39-year-old has fully embraced that title over the years. James even said recently that he was the chosen one.
LeBron has also embraced the “King” moniker that was also given to him when he was in high school. You see him putting an imaginary crown on his head so often, so to say he’s not comfortable with being praised is a bit much. I wouldn’t blame Bogut or anyone else for that matter for laughing upon hearing that.
Bogut, of course, had some great battles with James before they became teammates for a very short period of time. The Australian was the starting center for the Golden State Warriors when they faced LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2015 and 2016 NBA Finals.
It was Bogut and the Warriors who emerged victorious in their first meeting. He averaged 2.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game in the 2015 Finals, as Golden State won the series in six games.
It seemed like he and the Warriors were on track to win back-to-back titles when they went up 3-1 in the 2016 NBA Finals. LeBron and the Cavaliers, of course, then stormed back to win that series in seven games.
Bogut could only watch on helplessly as he suffered an injury in Game 5, which ruled him out for the rest of the series. The Warriors sorely missed his rim protection as the Cavaliers dominated inside.
Bogut would then be traded that offseason to the Dallas Mavericks, as the Warriors wanted to free up cap space to sign Kevin Durant. The Mavericks would trade him mid-season to the Philadelphia 76ers, who then waived him.
Bogut then proceeded to sign with LeBron’s Cavaliers but broke his leg less than a minute into his debut. Cleveland waived him less than two weeks after signing him, which ended his very brief stint as a teammate of James.
Bogut then played for the Lakers and had another stint with the Warriors. He made it to the Finals for the third time with Golden State in 2019, but they lost to the Toronto Raptors. He returned to Australia after that and retired in 2020.
Andrew Bogut Predicted The Lakers Would Finish 10th In The West In 2023-24
The Lakers came into this 2023-24 season with huge expectations. They had just made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals in 2023 and had brought back almost all the key pieces from that playoff run.
It was thought they would be competing for one of the top four seeds, but Bogut predicted before the season that the Lakers would finish 10th in the Western Conference. It sounded a bit foolish at the time, but the 39-year-old was on to something.
Despite LeBron averaging 24.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game this season, the Lakers are ninth in the Western Conference with a 30-26 record. While I would back them to have a strong finish to this season, it seems the best they can aim for is to get that sixth seed to avoid the play-in.
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