Bojan Bogdanovic is 'really happy' with wrist rehab, but status for start of season still uncertain

SALT LAKE CITY — Bojan Bogdanovic talked to his teammates. He talked to the coaching staff. He talked to the front office. He was looking for someone to back him up — for someone to agree that he should delay surgery until after the season.

They all came to the same conclusion: it would be best if he was healthy for the start of the 2020-21 season.

So, despite his pleadings to play in the playoffs, Bogdanovic had surgery in May to repair a ligament in his right wrist — an injury that had caused him pain for much of his first season in Utah.

Now, as training camp has started for his second year with the team, the Croatian forward admits it was the smart decision.

"I mean, it's already been six months since I had the surgery," Bogdanovic said. "If I had it after the playoffs, it would take a long long time to recover. I would have missed most of this season. So, I think it was a good decision to have surgery."

It's been a difficult recovery for Bogdanovic, maybe more mentally than physically. It was his first major injury, and it didn't just keep him from playing; it kept him from his team. In the NBA bubble, the Jazz put up posters of Bogdanovic on their team elevator doors. He also regularly called in to talk to the team via Zoom. Those virtual encounters didn't change the fact that Bogdanovic was forced to watch his team fall in the playoffs from his home.

"It was tough for me to be up every single night and watch them," he said. "I could have helped."

He won't find anyone who'll disagree with that. Bogdanovic averaged 20.2 points on 41% shooting from three on a career-high 7.3 attempts. He hit two game-winning 3-pointers in his first season in Utah. It's only a bit ironic the Jazz's season ended when a last-second three rimmed out as he watched from home.

"Bojan is a very good basketball player. He's a great 3-point shooter. He can create," Jazz center Rudy Gobert said. "He's a great scorer, and especially in clutch situations too. So, of course, when you don't have that guy in a lot of close games in the playoffs, he does make the difference. I'm excited to get him back. I think he's going to be a big plus for us."

The Jazz will be looking to take advantage of Bogdanovic's vast skill set even more this season. For example, head coach Quin Snyder said Utah will try to use him in the post more this season.

"I think that's an area where, if you look at through the season, where he can even be more effective," Snyder said. "He can score a lot of different ways. He impacts other guy's ability to score, too — particularly Donovan (Mitchell) in pick and roll, or Donovan in an isolation situation."

But it's still up in the air as to when Bogdanovic will be back in the Utah lineup. He was in a cast for two months this summer, and then began exercises to strengthen his wrist and get the motion back in his shooting hand. While Bogdanovic said that things are progressing well, he'll need to see how he reacts to playing contact basketball before knowing for sure if he's ready.

"Right now, I'm in a good position. My hand wrist is getting better," Bogdanovic said. "I'm starting to work on the court, as well as shooting threes and all of that. … I cannot tell you exactly if I'm going to be ready or not for the beginning of the season, so I got to wait and start to go one-on-one and start to play five-on-five; and then I'll see how my wrist is going to react. But I am really happy. I'm really happy with the position where I am right now."

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