Andrew Bogut

His parents, Michael and Anne, immigrated to Australia from Croatia in the 1970s, with his father from Osijek and his mother from Karlovac.

Bogut grew up playing Australian rules football and tennis in addition to basketball.

Andrew Michael Bogut (born 28 November 1984) is an Australian former professional basketball player who spent the majority of his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Bogut was born in Melbourne in 1984.

As a child, he patterned his basketball game after Toni Kukoč, a Croatian NBA player who spent the majority of the 1990s playing for the Chicago Bulls.

As a 15-year-old, he was cut from the Victoria junior state representative team.

In response to this setback, Bogut began to improve his game with the help of Siniša Marković, a professional basketball player from Yugoslavia.

Bogut's emergence began after he earned a roster spot with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 2002.

He competed in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) in 2002 and 2003, helping the AIS win the East Conference title in his first season.

He later joined the U-19 Australian junior national team, and was named the most valuable player of the 2003 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, in Greece, after leading the Emus to the title.

In eight games, he averaged 26.3 points, 17 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, and he shot 61 percent from the field and 74 percent from the free throw line.

One of the highlights of his MVP conquest was a 22-point, 18-rebound performance, in a 106–85 win over the US, in the quarter-finals of the medal round.

As a freshman at Utah in 2003–04, Bogut averaged 12.5 points and 9.9 rebounds in 33 games.

He subsequently earned CollegeInsider.com All-Freshman Team honours, Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, second-team All-Mountain West Conference, and NABC second-team All-District 13.

He led the nation with 26 double-doubles and scored in double figures in 37 consecutive games dating back to the final two games of the 2003–04 season to have the sixth-longest streak in the country.

As a sophomore in 2004–05, Bogut started all 35 games for the Utes, leading them to a 29–6 record, the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, and a Mountain West Conference championship.

He was named the 2004–05 national player of the year by ESPN.com and Basketball Times, and earned Associated Press first-team All-American and leading vote getter, becoming the 11th Ute all-time to earn All-America honours.

He also earned Naismith College Player of the Year honours and the John R. Wooden Award.

He later had his No. 4 jersey retired by Utah.

The 7 ft tall center was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the first overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft.

Bogut played college basketball for two years with the Utah Utes, and earned national player of the year honors in 2005.

He declared for the NBA draft, and became the first Australian to be the NBA's first overall pick.

Bogut was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the first overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft, becoming the first Australian player and the second Utah player (the first being Bill McGill) to be drafted number one overall.

As a rookie in 2005–06, he earned All-Rookie First Team honours and finished third in votes for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.

He played in all 82 regular season games for the Bucks in his first season, averaging 9.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

Bogut's second season in the league was cut short after he sprained his left foot and was put on the injured reserve for the final 15 games.

He had previously played in 153 consecutive games.

In his first year with the Bucks, Bogut was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2006.

He earned All-NBA Third Team honors with the Bucks in 2010.

He earned all-league honors in 2010 after averaging a career-high 15.9 points along with 10.2 rebounds per game.

He missed most of 2011–12 with an ankle injury, when he was traded to Golden State.

He was traded to the Golden State Warriors in 2012, and was named NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2015, when he won an NBA championship with the Warriors.

After the Warriors won the NBA Finals in 2015, Bogut helped the Warriors win an NBA-record 73 games in 2015–16.

He was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he played briefly before other short stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers.

In 2018, he returned to his home country to play for the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL) and won the NBL MVP honours.

Following the 2018–19 NBL season, Bogut signed back with the Warriors.

He ranked 19th in the NCAA in scoring (20.4 ppg), second in rebounding (12.2 rpg) and eighth in field goal percentage (62.0), and led the Mountain West Conference in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage.

He became one of 31 Utah players all-time to score 1,000 points in his career, but just the third to reach that mark in two seasons.

He then returned to the Kings for a second season before retiring in 2020.

Described as one of the leading faces of Australian basketball, Bogut has been credited for serving as a cornerstone of the Australian national team, for paving the way for an entire generation of Australian players in the NBA and in playing a leading role in re-vitalising the Australian NBL.