Andrew Bogut Reacts to Durant Joining Warriors, Kaepernick's Protest

When Kevin Durant announced on July 4 that he would sign with the Warriors, it signaled the end of Andrew Bogut's tenure with Golden State.

On July 7, the Warriors officially traded the big man to the Mavericks.

In a recent Q&A with ESPN's Tim MacMahon, Bogut opened up about dealing with the Durant rumors throughout the season.

[REWIND: Bogut 'wouldn't be shocked' if Durant joins Warriors]

"That's part of the business," Bogut explained. "I think the deal was done long before the summer. I think it was done -- obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen.

"That's just a part of it. Andre (Iguodala) and I knew it was one of us that was going to go, and it was me. That's part of the business. I have no gripes about it. You get a Hall of Famer -- he's going to be a Hall of Famer -- in K.D.

"If I'm the GM, I do the same deal. That's just the reality of the business."

[REWIND: Bogut: Win title, Warriors probably 'forced to bring us back']

Bogut also weighed in on several other topics:

Q: How different do those Finals turn out if you don't go down with a knee injury?

A: I don't like looking back and talking about that stuff. There's a lot of things that could have went our way in that Finals series that didn't, but on the flip side, we got those bounces a series before and probably shouldn't have been in the Finals. We're down 3-1 and had a couple close plays go our way, and Klay (Thompson) gets hot in that last game (in Oklahoma City). So it works itself out in the wash.

Obviously, the injury for me was a tough one because there was no way I could bounce back within three or four weeks. If it was a thing where I could have shot it up and played, I would have given it a shot, but the knee was blown up. I couldn't really do much about it. Then on top of that, Draymond (Green) gets suspended, which didn't help either. So it kind of threw our rhythm off. That's why the playoffs and the Finals are a beast. Seven games, and the momentum can shift two or three times during a series. We saw that."

Q: What are your feelings on national anthem protests and the discussion Colin Kaepernick has launched in this country?

A: Look, I think it's a touchy one because I'm proud to see my national anthem in Australia, but I think Australia and America are built on freedom of speech. I don't have a problem with the way he's gone about it, just in the fact that it's a nonviolent protest. I think it's brought up a discussion. What I have issue with are violent protests, people in downtown Charlotte, Milwaukee, Ferguson just destroying s--- and throwing things through windows. Those people have nothing to do with what's going on a lot of the times, and businesses are getting destroyed, people losing their children, people are dying. I don't agree with that.

If Colin Kaepernick is going to get criticized for the kind of protest that's nonviolent, it's tough, and everybody has their opinion about it, but I think it's the right way to go about it, comparing it to those violent protests. For me, the American anthem, I stand and respect it. I'm not an American, but I'm not going to lie: America has given a lot to me as a person and as an individual. I'm playing in the best league in the world and make probably more money than anybody should make for playing the game of basketball, so I respect what America has given to my life and my family. I know a lot of guys in the locker room that feel that way because of the issues with police profiling and all that stuff.

I think it's good that the topic is out there, but it's a hard thing to change. There's so many nuances and so many things that can go on. We know the media only likes to report one side of it too, so you only see the bad and the horror and the torment that goes on. A lot of times, you don't see the good things police officers do or the good things that African-Americans or Hispanics or even whites in poor areas do. Nobody ever reports on that. Everyone always reports on the bad, so I think we get inundated with all that s---.
 

Copyright CSNBY - CSN BAY
Contact Us