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Andrew Bogut appears headed to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Golden State Warriors, in a move to shed salaries to make way for new All-Star recruit Kevin Durant’s two-year, $US54.3 million deal, have agreed to trade the Australian centre to Dallas.
The deal will not be officially completed until after Thursday, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported.
Bogut will make $US11 million the coming season in what was the final year of his three-year contract.
The 31-year-old, 213cm tall Melbourne-born centre is one of the major casualties of Durant’s decision on Monday to flee the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Durant’s move creates an NBA super team, with the Warriors already loaded with All-Stars Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.
Durant spurned offers from the Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics.
“It really pains me to know that I will disappoint so many people with this choice, but I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career,” Durant wrote on The Players’ Tribune.
Bogut appeared to know his fate before Durant made the announcement.
The Australian stripped his Twitter profile of any Golden State references and added a picture of himself in an Australian jersey.
The move raised hope Bogut was determined to overcome a knee injury he suffered last month in the Warriors’ failed championship series against the Cleveland Cavaliers and play for Australia at next month’s Rio Olympics.
Bogut has an NBA championship ring from the Warriors’ victory in 2015 and the one major hole in his resume is the absence of an Olympic medal.
He could confirm his place as Australia’s greatest basketball player if he leads the Boomers to their first Olympic medal.
Bogut appears set to join his good friend and another Warriors casualty of the Durant deal, small forward Harrison Barnes, in Dallas.
Barnes has agreed to a four-year, $US95 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks.
Durant has the option of leaving the Warriors after the first year of his deal.
The past two years Australian basketball fans have been treated to Bogut’s Warriors’ taking on Victorian guard Matthew Dellavedova’s Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, but that run has ended.
Dellavedova’s days at the Cavaliers are also over with the NBA champions deciding on Monday not to match the Milwaukee Bucks’ four-year, $US38.5 million offer.
Dellavedova is expected to officially sign with the Bucks later in the week, cleveland.com reported on Monday.
It is a major pay rise for the scrappy 25-year-old point guard from Maryborough, Victoria, who earned $US1.2 million with the Cavaliers last year.
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