Former Utah Fan Favorite to Miss Remainder of NBA Playoffs
A former Jazz man will no longer be participating in the remainder of the postseason.
No, it’s not Royce O’ Neale who went down with the sinking ship that is the Phoenix Suns after suffering a sweep at the hands of Minnesota.
Rather, its current New York Knicks sharpshooting forward, Bojan Bogdanovic.
The news broke today that Bojan would be shutting himself down due to a bevy of injuries needing surgery:
Bogdanovic suffered a foot injury in New York’s game 4 victory only logging slightly less than 1 minute of play prior.
The wrist injury was a constant, and the recent foot injury was the final nail for Bogdanovic’s availability moving forward.
New York, currently with a 3-1 series lead and full momentum over Philadelphia, rely on Bogdanovic as a massive bench piece and will miss his scoring abilities as the push further into the post season.
As tough as that is, it’s tougher for Bogdanovic himself.
Jazz fans know that the man lovely dubbed “Bogey” is a top-notch role player and teammate always fulfilling his role at the highest level.
Bogdanovic had only been past the first round of the postseason two times in his entire career, once with Washington in 2017, and once with the Jazz in 2021.
For a 35-year-old pro, drafted in 2011 and appearing in the NBA in 2014, time is running out to see a conference finals/finals and New York has one of the best chances to make it out of the east this year as the #2 seed.
You can’t help but feel for the Forward, who missed Utah’s 2020 bubble postseason appearance with another wrist injury.
Bojan spent three seasons in Utah, appearing in 204 games, starting all of them, while putting up 18.4 PPG on nearly 40 percent three-point shooting.
Through the ups and downs for the Jazz at the time, Bogey was on of the consistent pieces you could count on.
His career high of 48 points happened with the Jazz, and he sits 6th in Jazz history with 550 three pointers made behind Gordon Hayward and Jordan Clarkson.
Bojan was a casualty of a massive Jazz shakeup when the team jettisoned Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert in the offseason of 2022.
Utah received Kelly Olynyk, Saben Lee and some cash considerations and sent Bogdanovic to Detroit.
After spending 87 games with the lowly Pistons, despite averaging a career high 21.6 PPG in 2022-2023, most Jazz fans were thankful to see him get out of the Motor City two seasons later when New York traded for him this February.
Bogdanovic would log 29 regular season games this year with the Knicks, pacing the bench with 10.4 PPG on 37 percent downtown shooting.
Bojan averaged 12 minutes a night in his 4 postseason appearances this season, good for 6 PPG and 40 percent three-point shooting on 3.8 deep ball attempts per night.
The Knicks are a team currently set up to succeed not only this year, but next as well.
As unfortunate as the situation is, Bogdanovic is still under contract for one more season in the big apple barring any massive changes for NYK.
I’m certain most Nets, Wizards, Pacers, Jazz and Knicks fans will be glad when they see Bogdanovic back on the hardwood next year.