Bogut, along with Stephen Jackson will now suit up with the Warriors, alongside Stephen Curry and David Lee, in exchange for outgoing Golden State players Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown.
Bogut, who is still recovering from an ankle injury he sustained in January, the latest in a series of unfortunate injuries for a player considered one of the best centres in the world, can now look forward to a fresh start with a new club, as he seeks to regain some of the form that had many punters believing that an All-Star appearance was only a matter of time.
According to Golden State co-owner Joe Lacob, the Warriors "just hit a home run", as a result of the trade, as "it's rare to trade a good guard for a good center, and that's what everybody in the basketball ops staff agreed they had to do," he said in an email to journalist Tim Kawakami from the Mercury.
He also stated that although the Warriors would play the short-term without their new star recruit, leaving them short on talent in the coming weeks, the organisation felt comfortable that short-term pain will be followed by a great deal of long-term success.
"Andrew Bogut and David Lee together? We are ecstatic," he said. "Both great rebounders. Both can score in similar ways and in some different ways. Andrew is the complementary rim protector and defender that will make David Lee even better," he said.
"Steph and Klay is a terrific fit, as well. Klay brings size and length and can shoot the lights out from anywhere. And he can really defend.
"We lost a terrific talent but basketball is a team sport where the pieces need to fit in order to maximize success. I wish we could have kept all of our pieces but in the end, free agency is tough and we had to trade our way to our end goal."
