Bogut: players "used like pawns" amid Aussie finals dramas

SYDNEY (AP) — NBA veteran Andrew Bogut says players were “used like pawns" in the process that led to his Sydney Kings refusing to fly across the country for Game 4 of the Australian league's finals series because of the coronavirus pandemic, a decision that ultimately handed the championship to Perth.

The Perth Wildcats led the best-of-five game grand final series 2-1 and were scheduled to host the Kings, but the last two games were canceled.

Two days later, the Wildcats were declared NBL champions after an extensive review of the competition regulations, despite Bogut and the Kings leading the standings from the start to the end of the regular season.

Bogut said he had no issue with the Wildcats winning the title, but was scathing of how the NBL handled the situation as sports events were being canceled all over the world.

“To me, what's more disappointing is how the NBL have handled this. That's got nothing to do with Perth,” Bogut told reporters in Sydney. He gave the NBL a rating of 1 out of 10 in terms of being proactive in contingency planning.

He said the NBL had little contact with the players in a period of upheaval, despite the second and third games of the series being played in empty stadiums. Travel restrictions were coming into effect across Australia and the world when the Kings decided against taking a cross-continental flight because of health and safety concerns.

“That’s what I felt, outside of the Kings (management); it was a case of ‘la la la la la,’" Bogut said. “We were told at numerous times when our front office people reached out to the league, ‘business as usual; everything’s fine.’”

Bogut noted that the day after that the NBA suspended its season in America, and the following day the Formula One Australian Grand...