A report from Dan Feldman of NBCSports surfaced Friday morning claiming that Bogdan Bogdanovic is not comfortable long-term in a backup role. The report cited week-old speculative quotes from Tim MacMahon and Brian Windhorst of ESPN about the “rumblings” they have heard that suggest Bogdanovic “may not be thrilled with being a sixth man.”
Friday night, following Sacramento’s second blowout loss in a row, Bogdanovic denied these reports.
“I’m happy to play in the NBA. I’m happy to be here and part of the team,” said Bogdanovic. “I’m really happy to do whatever I can.”
Bogdanovic appeared visibly confused when the report was relayed to him.
“I really don’t know. Who said something?” Bogdanovic asked. “Honestly, I try to stay out of my phone and media in general on gamedays,” said Bogdanovic. “I try to be locked in for the game.”
Feldman continued after the quotes from MacMahon and Windhorst to add some speculation of his own.
“Of course, Bogdanovic isn’t thrilled as a reserve. Nobody wants to be a backup. But that this word is already spreading is revealing,” wrote Feldman.
He continued on to express that he felt Buddy Hield generated some leverage by “making noise,” and that while this is a “relatively benign leak,” more could be coming.
But when Bogdanovic had cameras and microphones in his face, and his chance to make noise was right there for the taking, he simply laughed it off as a rumor.
“They say I’m not happy, but how does a man who is not happy play like this?” said Bogdanovic.
On the court Friday night, Bogdanovic got his groove back, posting 16 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He also connected on 4-of-6 shots from beyond the arc.
While aggregation articles based on speculation should already be taken with a many grains of salt, it feels safe to assume that this one is particularly baseless. Of course, there’s always the slim possibility that Bogdanovic is just a great actor and he secretly does have plans to agitate for a larger role as the season goes on. But even if that were true, it’s clear that any discussions of that nature would happen behind closed doors.
For now, the only sensible way forward for Kings fans is to take Bogi at his word and ignore the rumor mill.
“I’m just happy here. I’m just happy here to be that guy.”
