{"id":157435,"date":"2025-08-31T13:14:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T17:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=157435"},"modified":"2025-08-31T13:14:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T17:14:23","slug":"clippers-bogdan-bogdanovic-gets-injury-setback-that-could-derail-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/08\/31\/clippers-bogdan-bogdanovic-gets-injury-setback-that-could-derail-comeback\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbian Star Gets Injury Setback That Could Derail Comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogdabo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/a> will miss the rest of EuroBasket 2025. Meridian Sports\u00a0<a  href=\"https:\/\/meridiansport.rs\/evrobasket\/bogdan-bogdanovic-srbija-evrobasket\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">confirmed<\/a> the news after the veteran suffered a hamstring tear against Portugal. The injury happened late in the first half of a comfortable win. This decision wasn\u2019t Serbia\u2019s alone. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/clippers\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Clippers <\/a>signed off as well. Bogdanovic will now head back to the U.S. for treatment. His goal is a quick recovery, but hamstring injuries rarely follow a straight line.<\/p>\n<h2>Serbian Star Gets Injury Setback That Could Derail Comeback<\/h2>\n<h3>A Familiar Problem<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_155868\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-155868\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-155868\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26049341_168400548_lowres-1024x708.jpg\" alt=\"Bogdan Bogdanovic could miss the start of training camp for the Clippers with a hamstring injury\" width=\"640\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26049341_168400548_lowres-1024x708.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26049341_168400548_lowres-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26049341_168400548_lowres-768x531.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26049341_168400548_lowres-1536x1062.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26049341_168400548_lowres-2048x1416.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-155868\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apr 29, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; LA Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic (10) shoots in the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets during five of first round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Clippers fans might be surprised by Bogdan Bogdanovic\u2019s injury history. He suited up for only 37 games last year, sidelined early by nagging hamstring trouble in Atlanta. October and November were rough, but once he shook it off, he finally found his rhythm.<\/p>\n<p>Once traded to the Clippers, he stayed healthy. His shooting returned, too. He went from 30.1 percent from deep in Atlanta to 42.7 percent in Los Angeles. Still, his playoff struggles left questions. He averaged just 6.4 points with poor efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>Now at 33, with more than a decade of pro basketball on his legs, the margin for error shrinks. Hamstring setbacks hit harder at this stage of a career.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means for Serbia<\/h3>\n<p>Bogdanovic\u2019s absence reshapes the EuroBasket picture. Serbia entered as one of the tournament favorites. Through three games, they are undefeated in Group A. Bogdanovic averaged 9 points, 4 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in just 20 minutes per game.<\/p>\n<p>That steady production will be missed. Serbia will adjust quickly and lean on younger talent like <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jovicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jovi\u0107<\/a> to maintain momentum. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Joki\u0107<\/a> will step up as the leader on the team.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means for the Clippers<\/h3>\n<p>For Los Angeles, the timing stings. Training camp opens in about a month. Bogdanovic hoped to earn his way back into Tyronn Lue\u2019s rotation after a down season.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the Clippers have rehab him with caution. Research shows one in three hamstring injuries reoccur within a year. Older players face even greater risk.<\/p>\n<p>That means that Bogdan Bogdanovic\u2019s injury concern could stretch beyond Clippers&#8217; camp. He may miss preseason. Depending on recovery speed, his opening night availability could be in doubt.<\/p>\n<h3>The Bigger Picture<\/h3>\n<p>Bogdanovic remains one of the best shooting wings in basketball. He\u2019s a career 38 percent three-point shooter. When healthy, he gives the Clippers spacing and secondary playmaking.<\/p>\n<p>But this latest setback reinforces a hard truth. Availability is everything. Age may be taking its toll on Bogdanovic. This is the delicate game Clippers are playing with a team of veterans.<\/p>\n<p><label>Credit:<\/label>\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bogdan Bogdanovic will miss the rest of EuroBasket 2025. Meridian Sports\u00a0confirmed the news after the veteran suffered a hamstring tear against Portugal. The injury happened late in the first half of a comfortable win. This decision wasn\u2019t Serbia\u2019s alone. The Los Angeles Clippers signed off as well. Bogdanovic will now head back to the U.S. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":157448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,61,27,3],"tags":[1227,1131,4745],"class_list":["post-157435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-international-basketball","category-clippers","category-news","tag-bogdan-bogdanovic","tag-eurobasket","tag-nba-injuries"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157449,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157435\/revisions\/157449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}