NBL boss Larry Kestelman says Andrew Bogut’s signing is just the beginning, outlining plans for all of Australia’s NBA stars to finish their careers Down Under.

Australian basketball was buzzing when Bogut was unveiled as a Sydney King on a historic two-year deal.

Bogut’s arrival has been trumpeted as the biggest coup in the NBL’s 40-year history and Kestelman says there are more marquee men to come.

The NBL owner has held countless discussions with Australian NBA stars like Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova and Joe Ingles about returning to the NBL when their American careers are finished.

“This (Bogut) is the first one of many,” Kestelman told The Daily Telegraph.

“I truly believe that our Australian guys want to finish their careers in Australia in front of their fans and families to build a legacy past the actual playing of the game.

“I think they all want to give back and be involved in the game in some capacity, whether it is ownership, coaching or mentoring, they love the sport and they want to be a part of it.

“We also want them to come back and make a legacy in business as well.

“It is my job to make sure that we build a home for them to be able to come back and proud of.

“I think Andrew has set the way for others to do it.”

Bogut also revealed he had received contact from his fellow Australian NBA stars about returning home.

Asked if his landmark deal with the Sydney Kings can create a precedent for other Australian NBA players to follow in his footsteps, he confidently replied: “Let’s hope so. I’m not going to say who, but there are a couple of guys that have already texted me and spoken to me about potentially doing the same thing when their time is right to come back from the States.

“Hopefully this starts a precedent. Not only that, but the NBL is in a position to facilitate a deal like this.”

Bogut admits he would have never returned to the NBL three or four years ago, but this has changed thanks to people like Kestelman and CEO Jeremy Loeliger.

“The NBL has put themselves in a position thanks to Larry and all the people involved,” he said.

“Not just from a financial component, but just from the way the league was run. It was borderline bush league at times and not something that I’d be comfortable to put my name next to, but I’m comfortable now that there are enough good business people running clubs and Larry doing things right.

“The league is going in an upwards direction, so that is another reason I thought it was the right time.”

Bogut’s contract figure won’t be divulged by the NBL or Sydney, but it’s understood he will earn close to $1 million.

Only $160,000 of this deal will count on the Kings’ salary cap, which is part of the NBL’s local marquee signing set-up.

The NBL changed to a “soft cap” of $1.1 million in 2016, meaning teams may exceed the soft cap provided that they pay a salary equalisation subsidy.

These funds can be filtered down to franchises that don’t exceed the limit.

However this is a discretionary fund the NBL holds for required spending, which is different to the NBA where it’s a distributed fund across clubs.

Kestelman says the soft cap and local marquee signing initiatives were set up to allow a big-name player like Bogut to return from the NBA.

“We could have just called it the Andrew Bogut rule,” he grinned.

“But I think this was always part of the vision.

“My interest is in sustaining a sustainable sport and we want the best Australians playing here.

“That’s why we set up a special rule for Australian marquees.

“Every team is allowed to bring back one Australian player and they are allowed to pay him as much as they like and it only counts as $160,000 towards the salary cap.

“We didn’t want to discourage any Australian from coming back and then taxing them on top of that with a luxury tax.”