SAN FRANCISCO — The Utah Jazz could end up really shorthanded in their Monday night matchup with the Phoenix Suns.
Already without Donovan Mitchell, who did not travel with the team on their two-game trip as he recovers from a concussion, and Hassan Whiteside, who is conditioning after clearing the NBA’s health and safety protocol, the Jazz suffered two more injuries in their 94-92 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.
Bojan Bogdanovic came away from a fourth-quarter collision with Damion Lee favoring his right leg and was diagnosed with a knee contusion. Rudy Gobert was hobbled in the final minutes of the game with a left calf strain, and watched from sidelines for the last two minutes.
“I felt it right away,” Gobert said of his injury. “I stepped an I felt something like — I had a feeling in my calf...I knew something happened. Once again, I tried to play through it. But I could feel I wasn’t moving right and I didn’t want to make it worse.”
While Bogdanovic seemed to be unconcerned about his injury in the long-term, he didn’t know if it would impact his ability to play in upcoming games.
Gobert seemed to lean a little more toward caution, noting that a calf strain is not something to mess with.
“I’ve never really had that before so I don’t know, it’s hard for me to tell how many games or how long it will take me to heal,” Gobert said after the game with his legs wrapped in ice packs. “Sometimes you’ve got to be smart. It it’s a strain and you make it worse it can be a lot worse.”
Neither player’s status for Monday night has been determined, but even if the injuries aren’t major, considering the team will be on the second night of a back-to-back, the Jazz could err on the side of caution.
While the Jazz left the door open for the possibility of Mitchell joining the team in Phoenix before the Golden State game, a team spokesperson said that Mitchell is not expected to travel to Phoenix and will not play on Monday night.