If, as Las Vegas bookmakers predict, Andrew Bogut and his Golden State Warriors claim the NBA Championship, the Australian centre will look fondly back to a pricey dinner date he had in Melbourne.
In June last year Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and wife Margot boarded a plane in the US and flew to Melbourne to visit Bogut.
They only stayed for a weekend, dined with Bogut a couple of times, then flew back.
"He was trying to let me know I was an integral part of the team," Bogut, speaking on the eve of the NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers, told reporters.
Tip-off for game one of the best-of-seven-series is 11am AEST Friday at the Warriors' Oracle Arena.
The Kerrs' quick trans-Pacific roundtrip was one of the first major moves Kerr made after the Warriors hired him to replace sacked former coach Mark Jackson, who Bogut had a tense relationship with.
Kerr had no NBA coaching experience, but as a player collected five NBA Championship rings - three with Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls and two with the Gregg Popovich-coached, Tim Duncan-led San Antonio Spurs.
It was Kerr's Bulls days, and the role another Aussie centre, Luc Longley, who played on that great Jordan team, that Kerr specifically wanted to chat with Bogut about.
Kerr brought an iPad along with clips of how Bulls' master coach Phil Jackson used Longley as a key passing cog in a triangle offence.
Bogut, a great passer, immediately bought in and the rest is history.
Bogut also did some of his own research, chatting to Longley and another Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze, who played with Kerr at the Spurs.
"The fact he still keeps in touch with Gazey and Luc, it tells you what kind of guy he is," Bogut said.
"He's not some egomaniac.
"He's a normal, laid-back to type of guy."
The Warriors stormed through the regular season and accumulated the best record in the NBA - 67 wins and only 15 losses - and went on to take the Western Conference.
The LeBron James-led Cavaliers, featuring Victorian point guard Matthew Dellavedova, had a rocky season, but in the final months clicked to charge through the Eastern Conference.
Bookmakers have the Warriors as the short-priced favourites at around $1.40 to win the title, while the Cavaliers are $3.00.
"It's guaranteed an Aussie is going to get a ring, so it's a good thing," Bogut said.
If the Warriors prevail that quick trip to Melbourne would have certainly been worth it, including the pricey bill Bogut and the Kerrs racked up at Melbourne's Rockpool restaurant.
The 213cm tall, 118kg Bogut ordered one of the dearest items on the menu.
"The Warriors were paying so we were good," Bogut said.
"I got the Wagyu, medium rare."
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