Utah Jazz should benefit from Bojan Bogdanovic’s disappointment

Now, the upcoming 2021 Olympics look to include only two Utah Jazz players.

On Saturday, Utah Jazz gem Bojan Bogdanovic scored half the points for his Croatian national team. Yet despite the 6-foot-7 forward’s efforts and the fact that the game took place in his home country, the squad gave up an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter and ultimately fell to Germany, 86-76, in the Olympic qualifying tournament.

Bogdanovic went 11-for-19 from the field in the contest. However, his teammates went a combined 12-for-35.

Still, the clip of Bogdanovic’s slickest move, including a vicious finish and roar, quickly spread on social media:

The disappointing loss erased Croatia’s hopes of playing in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. On the flip side, though, the defeat should boost Jazz hopes when it comes to having a well-rested Bogdanovic following this year’s shortened offseason.

A key piece to the Utah Jazz puzzle

Across this past regular season — Bojan Bogdanovic’s second in Utah — the Croatian sensation started all 72 games. He wound up averaging 17.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 39.0 percent beyond the arc for a Jazz bunch that finished with the best record in the entire league.

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And then in the playoffs, although his scoring was fairly inconsistent, Bogdanovic started all 11 games and never played fewer than 30 minutes.

Right now, Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles are the only two Utah Jazz weapons on tap to be in Japan for the Olympics in a few weeks. Gobert will be playing for France, of course, while Ingles will be hooping for an Australian team that features a total of six NBA players and could be a serious threat to Team USA’s gold medal chances.