Andrew Bogut adamant he doesn’t want Mavericks to trade him

Contrary to word out of Australia, Dallas Mavericks center Andrew Bogut insists he doesn’t want to be traded.

However, Bogut, who has an expiring contract that pays him $11 million this season, doesn’t expect to be with the Mavs beyond this season.

“I have not asked to be traded,” Bogut said. “Do I want to be traded?

“Look, if there’s an opportunity to go somewhere and (the Mavs) want to do it, I’m not going to beg them to not trade me. But I have not gone to the office and asked for a trade.”

Trade rumors involving Bogut started circulating after he conducted an interview on an Australian radio station on Wednesday. Bogut said a newspaper reporter misconstrued his words.

“You do an interview on Australian radio, which people didn’t even listen to, and then a journalist takes the quotes subjectively out of that interview and writes an article saying I want out,” Bogut said. “That turned into a headline that said Bogut Wants Out, which is false.”

To the best of his knowledge, coach Rick Carlisle doesn’t think the Mavs are actively trying to trade Bogut by the Feb. 23 trading deadline. And he sees a scenario where the Mavs will re-sign Bogut, although admittedly that’s up to owner Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson, the team’s president of basketball operations.

“It’s a dynamic business and I’m not certain what’s going to happen,” Carlisle said. “But I’ve had some good talks with (Bogut) recently and I know he likes it here and my understanding was that he did not want to get traded.

“But look, we’re all big boys, we’ve been in this a long time, and part of the business is trades do happen. But I don’t know anything about a trade.”

The No. 1 overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2005, Bogut has never been a free agent. And that intrigues the 7-footer, who believes the Mavs will not re-sign him when he becomes a free agent this summer.

Asked if he thinks he’ll be in a Mavs uniform next season, Bogut said: “I mean if you’re asking me today and I have to put my house on it, I’d say no, just because if there was an opportunity for me to come back there would have been at least extension talks, which I’m not bitter about, I’m not mad about. The Mavs eventually have to start rebuilding, too.

“There’s no point bringing back a 33-year old center if you’re in rebuild mode.”

Bogut, who has recently been coming off the bench and is averaging 3.3 points and a team-high 9.7 reobunds, has another reason why he wants to continue playing for the Mavs. But he wouldn’t elaborate on it.

“There’s some personal reasons as to why I’d like to stay here, which people don’t know about,” Bogut said. “It’s been a tough season for everybody involved.”

“But it’s far from the truth that I’ve gone to management and asked for a trade.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2017 at 10:04 PM with the headline "Andrew Bogut adamant he doesn’t want Mavericks to trade him."