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SALT LAKE CITY — If the NBA season does start up again, the Utah Jazz will be without one of their top players.
Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic will undergo season-ending surgery on Tuesday on his right wrist, the team announced.
Bogdanovic suffered the injury — a ruptured scapholunate ligament — sometime during 2019 and has played through pain for much of the season.
The team has closely monitored the injury throughout the year, but after numerous recent consultations, it was decided Bogdanovic could no longer wait to have the surgery done. The Jazz said the league’s hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic did not play a role in the timing of surgery. Bogdanovic only missed one of the team’s 64 games this season.
The surgery will occur in New York City.
There is no timeline for recovery, but the Jazz said a return to play this season — even if games get pushed into late summer — won’t be possible.
After signing a four-year deal with the Jazz worth $73 million last summer, he quickly won the hearts of Jazz fans by hitting a game-winning three at the buzzer against Milwaukee in Utah's ninth game of the season. He replicated that feat on Feb. 9 with a buzzer-beating three to beat the Rockets.
Even with an injury hampering him, Bogdanovic was one of the better scorers in the entire league this season, giving the Jazz a true second option to go alongside Donovan Mitchell.
In his first year with the Jazz, Bogdanovic averaged 20.2 points and shot 41.4% from 3-point range. He's one of two players in the NBA this season to average 20 points while shooting at least 40 percent from deep and 90 percent from the free-throw line.
Also on Monday, it was reported that longtime Jazz vice president of player personnel Walt Perrin is leaving Utah to join the Knicks.
