DECEMBER 7, 10:53am: According to Bogut, the preliminary prognosis on his knee suggests he’ll be out for about 10 days, though he admitted there’s a chance he could miss up to three or four weeks (Twitter link via Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News).
DECEMBER 6, 4:00pm: Mavericks center Andrew Bogut has been diagnosed with a minor bone bruise in his right knee and could return to action within two weeks or so, reports ESPN’s Marc Stein (via Twitter). The team, which has not confirmed Stein’s report, initially diagnosed Bogut with a hyper-extended knee after he was forced out of Monday’s loss to Charlotte.
Head coach Rick Carlisle said earlier today that the Mavericks expect to be without Bogut for at least the next three games, and possibly longer, but he doesn’t think the injury will sidelined the former first overall pick for a significant period of time, per Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News.
“We’ll know more later,” Carlisle said. “My understanding is that this is not going to be terribly serious. He’s going to miss some time. We’ll probably know better in a day or two how much time. But I don’t see him playing (Wednesday against Sacramento) or Friday or Saturday, for sure. And probably longer.”
Bogut, who is in the final year of his contract, has become a popular subject of trade speculation with Dallas off to a poor start this season. The Mavs have insisted privately and publicly that they don’t intend to throw in the towel anytime soon and aren’t shopping Bogut at this point. However, in another month or two, if the club’s playoff chances continue to slip away, the front office will likely consider moving the 32-year-old, knowing that a rim-protecting, defensive-minded center would have value on the trade market.
The Celtics have been mentioned as one team that will likely explore the possibility of acquiring Bogut if the Mavs make him available. Based on Stein’s report, it doesn’t look like Bogut’s knee injury will affect his availability later in the season.