Utah Jazz’s Bojan Bogdanovic to have season-ending surgery
- When the 2019-20 NBA season returns, the Utah Jazz will be unable to count on Bojan Bogdanovic.
![BojanBogdanovic - cropped](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 800 450"></svg>)
Utah Jazz wing Bojan Bogdanovic will undergo season-ending surgery on his right wrist, the team announced on Monday.
No time frame for his recovery was supplied, but ESPN reported he is expected to be fully recovered for the beginning of the 2020-21 season, whenever that may come.
Bogdanovic, who is eighth in the NBA with 189 made three-pointers this season, suffered the injury last year and played in pain until the league shut down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A Jazz statement read: "Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic will undergo season-ending wrist surgery.
"Bogdanovic hurt his right wrist sometime in 2019 and the injury continued to bother him throughout the season.
"With the campaign suspended, the forward consulted with multiple medical professionals and the decision was made to surgically repair the ruptured scapholunate ligament.
"Bogdanovic is scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday in New York. A timeline for his return to play has not yet been set."
Salute to my brotha @44Bojan for fighting through for us all year... one of the toughest dudes I know!! Get right and ready for next season
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) May 18, 2020
Bodganovic, who averaged a career-high 20.2 points per game this season, was held to single-digit scoring totals in three of his past seven appearances.
The sixth-year forward is Utah's second-highest scorer after signing a four-year, $73million contract with the Jazz last offseason.
Bogdanovic has been very durable in his career, missing only 12 of a possible 474 games during his time with the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers and Jazz.
The 31-year-old has been a valuable offensive weapon for Utah this season, shooting 41.4 per cent from behind the three-point arc.
The 2019-20 season has been characterized by dramatic swings for the Jazz, who put together a 20-3 stretch across December and January but also suffered four- and five-game losing streaks in the six weeks before the league's suspension.
If the NBA season continues, Utah will also have to mend a reportedly fractured relationship between team cornerstones Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
Gobert was the first athlete in major American sports to test positive for COVID-19, leading to the late postponement of the Jazz's March 11 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the NBA suspending its season the next day. Mitchell tested positive shortly thereafter.
With the league still on indefinite hiatus due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Jazz sit fourth in the Western Conference with a 41-23 record.
