Andrew Bogut Considered Retiring Due to Ankle Injury


Golden State Warriors big man Andrew Bogut says that he grew so frustrated earlier this season with a nagging left ankle injury, that he contemplated walking away from the game. Bogut has since gotten healthier, and helped the Dubs make an impressive and unexpected Playoff run. Per NBA.com: Bogut said he ‘was getting close’ to having to give it serious consideration, but that he was not at the point of having to make a decision. The plan, he said, was to try and finish this season on an encouraging note, work during the summer to return to peak condition and aim for a healthy 2013-14. If that went bad, all options would have been on the table. ‘I didn’t get to that point,’ he said before the Warriors practiced in advance of Game 3 of the second-round series against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night at Oracle Arena. ‘But it was definitely [something] I started to think about. I never got to a point where I thought, ‘This is it. I’m done.’ But I thought, ‘If this goes on for a year or two, there’s definitely a chance that I think about that.’ I was really bad. The physical part of it is one thing, but the mental part of it’s the other. It was a tough time in my career. You always just start questioning yourself, and whenever you do that as an athlete, I think it’s probably not a great thing. When is this going to subside? When am I going to feel better? Am I going to be back to the same level I was playing at before the injury? How long is it going to take? Why is it taking so long? [I am] medically cleared to play, but am I being soft? Am I not going hard enough? Am I going too hard? Too many questions in your mind. I was frustrated.’ Asked if he ever thought his career could seriously be in jeopardy, Bogut said, ‘I never got to that point, but I was starting to get there. [I] come back at the start of the season and it doesn’t respond well, [so] I had to take three months off. It just becomes monotonous doing the same rehab every day and not seeing results. I’m doing the same thing every day. People don’t know, practice is at 11 [a.m.] and I am in here at 8:30 doing my rehab for 2 ½ hours and strength and conditioning and conditioning and getting my shots up, getting my rhythm and seeing no results — I was real frustrated. The goal was to try and get to the summer and then work on my body and see how it is next season. But, obviously, now I’m starting to feel much better. My body’s starting to respond a little bit better. It’s a positive sign. My goal was in the playoffs to no matter have a good playoff campaign and kind of forget about the season. It’s kind of worked so far.'”