Bogdanovic on Failed Kings-Bucks Deal: “We were like, ‘What the f—?”
Jan 5, 2021, 9:10 AM | Updated: 9:13 am
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
The former Sacramento Kings guard opened up on the ordeal to Sam Amick of The Athletic
He speaks.
After months of rumors and stories surrounding the butchered Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks deal that would have sent guard Bogdan Bogdanovic to Wisconsin, the former Kings guard has opened up on the incident.
This week, Bogdanovic had a sit-down interview with Sam Amick of The Athletic where he broke down the confusing failed transaction.
Reports surfaced on November 16, 2020 that Sacramento and Milwaukee had reached an agreement on a sign-and-trade that would send Bogdanovic to the Bucks.
Only one problem: Bogdanovic never agreed to a deal with anyone.
“When the news came out, we were like, ‘What the f***?’ I didn’t know what was going on. I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure what was going on,” Bogdanovic told Amick of how he heard about the deal.
According to the 28-year-old guard, he was asleep when the reports surfaced that he had been traded.
“It’s not the part that you were traded, but it’s more like you feel a little be-traded,” the guard said.
Shortly after free-agency opened up in December, Bogdanovic inked a four-year, $72 million offer sheet with the Atlanta Hawks. After much deliberation from the Kings front office, the organization decided against matching the offer.
Sacramento took almost the entirety of the 48-hour decisional window, something that stressed out the veteran guard.
“I was scared for that (because) at that point I wanted to leave. At that point, when they traded me already and they didn’t want to talk to me about it, I was like, ‘OK, they really want me out of here.’ So I was like, ‘OK.’“
Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic on Sacramento deciding to not match the offer sheet from Atlanta (Sam Amick of The Athletic)
After three years with the Kings, Bogdanovic has started his fourth year in the NBA with Atlanta. Over his first seven games, the guard holds averages of 11.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 0.6 steals per game while shooting 40-percent from the three-point line.
Over the course of the interview with Amick, Bogdanovic opens up on his time with the franchise and explains how scary it was to wait out the restricted free-agent process.
For the entire interview between Bogdanovic and Amick, you can find it here on The Athletic.