ANDREW Bogut is a big man who casts a giant shadow. At 2.13m, he was born to play basketball. A No.1 draft pick for the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA, he now plays for the Golden State Warriors, where his recently extended contract will push his career earnings past $100 million. He talks to Robert Craddock about life in the US.

You were Australia’s top paid sportsman last year but what

about the years when you didn’t have a coin?

I ended up in America in the college system where you don’t get paid. You cannot even get help from friends or people in the club. They cannot give you a dollar or buy you a drink or a meal, it’s illegal by the laws of the NCAA. I went to America with one suitcase and that was about it. My family were not wealthy by any means. My father was a labourer.

So how did you survive?

I ended up getting a job in a sports bar for about six weeks on weekends and I built up a little fund of money. When we did not have a team meal I would be at Wendys or Subway getting the dollar items. I would spend three or four bucks on a few cheese burgers and chips. That was my meal. That was the reality of it.

Did it shape you as a person?

It was disappointing to do that but I do believe it makes you smarter and tougher. At the same time it magnifies what the NCAA is. I just don’t think it is fair what they do to some of these kids. They signed a billion-dollar television deal and you have kids playing who can barely afford to eat. It is not right.

I was surprised when you signed your first big contract for Milwaukee that you didn’t completely lose your head and buy a boat and a jetski and all that crazy stuff.

I have made mistakes — I must say that. When you get an exorbitant amount of money as a 20-year-old and you go out and swim with the sharks — it happens. But it was not like I went out and bought a Ferrari or a speedboat. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed it. I drive nice cars, but there was never a time when I splurged for the sake of splurging.

media_camera Andrew Bogut in action for the Boomers against Argentina at the 2008 Olympic Games.

What do you make of the future of basketball in Australia?

It’s hard to say. It is teetering. It has a good couple of months and a bad couple of months. Until the CEOs are on the same page, there are always going to be a lot of issues. There are a lot of personal agendas, people look at the short-term gain and basketball needs a long-term plan. The

short-term plan has not worked. There have been teams folding left, right and centre. It has to be a patient 10 or 15-year approach but that is easy to say, I suppose.

You were caught in the mid dle of one of the biggest sports stories of the year when Donald Sterling, owner of the LA Clippers, was kicked out of the NBA for making racial comments. What was it like playing the Clippers at that time?

Very interesting. There are a lot of issues with what happened, particularly some of the comments made by Sterling. I know a lot of people who played for the Clippers were very hurt by it and so were a lot of other people in the league. You look into it and he had a bit

of history with it. He’d definitely had some run-ins with it in the past.

He has been banned for life and I don’t see him being back in the league any time soon, because the players would revolt if he stuck around.

You revealed that players from both teams planned to stage a dramatic protest after the tip-off. What did they have in mind?

It would have gone down in history as a stance against what was said, and rightfully so. That was the day they (NBA officials) were announcing the punishment, the morning of our game. Our players and their players got together and the plan was if the punishment was not sufficient, when the referee threw the ball up nobody would jump, the ball would hit the ground and both sides would head to the locker room and not play. It would have been very interesting.

It would have been an epic moment, wouldn’t it?

It would have gone down as one of the most significant protests in sporting history, especially in this day an age because you don’t see that sort of stuff. Racism is not an issue and you just don’t see the type of comments that Sterling made.

media_camera Andrew Bogut some young fans in Melbourne.

American sport seems pretty cut-throat where every man looks after himself?

No doubt. It is coming in Australia. It works both ways. In Australia, everything is for the club but the downside of that is players are starting to realise clubs will sell false hopes. Players here get criticised if they want to leave. Sport is unfortunately a business. Most people hate to hear it, but with the amount of bucks involved, it is your job and your livelihood. You get a five or 10-year window to make the most of it.

In the US, professional sportsmen have their wages published. Does that create problems?

That’s the issue. You play on a team and you have got two blokes who are free agents at the end of the year and they are trying to get their numbers up. They want to get paid the next year and, on top of that, you are trying to win games and keep team camaraderie.

What do you think of your salary being made public?

I disagree with the publishing of figures. The big paper in the States, The USA Today, actually has a lift-out every three or four months which has every professional athlete’s salary in every sport in America. You have a bunch of women cutting that out and following guys around at night clubs. It just creates a plethora of problems.

You have played in two Olympic Games. What were they like?

At my first Olympics in Athens (2004), I was 19. Just being there was a whirlwind. You feel like you are a junior . . . the quirky moments were seeing some of the best female athletes and they had very little clothing on. There was a village pool which was a fashion show. There was a live DJ spinning tunes at the pool. There was a lot going on that could distract you.

You played Aussie rules as a youngster. Could you have made it in the AFL?

I would love to have said yes, because I would have liked to have played. There was potential for a ruck role there, but I’m not going to say it would be easy. In my opinion, the AFL is one of the toughest sports in the world. I can kick pretty well and move around pretty well.

Originally published as The life of an NBA superstar