Look — it is entirely rational to be more concerned about your professional future than it is winning college basketball games or having fun playing. It is also entirely rational to determine that you’ve set yourself up with enough money that playing for more, and risking getting less due to injury or performance, stops making sense. IF, and that’s a big if, that’s what Bouk is doing, he has every right to do it.
That having been said, you don’t achieve what he has achieved without desperately caring about competing and winning, and every NBA exec knows that at the end of the day a player who desperately wants to compete and win will be of a lot more value than one who is only worried about the green. Michael Jordan wasn’t the greatest ever because he protected his God given ability. He was the greatest ever because he combined that talent with a desperate desire to be the best on every single possession.
Not much more to be said. Book doesn’t owe anyone coming back, but not coming back will also be a message that GMs won’t forget down the road.