Bojan Bogdanović announced Sunday he is retiring from the NBA after 10 seasons.
Bogdanović, 36, said in a statement: “Sometimes in life, you don’t choose the moment. The moment chooses you. After 14 months of battling a foot injury, two surgeries, and countless efforts to get back on the court, the time has come to close a chapter. After more than two decades in the game, the moment has arrived to say goodbye to basketball. Not just as a sport, but as a part of who I am. Every stop left a mark, every jersey carried its own weight ..Above all, I had the honor of wearing the Croatian crest on my chest.”
Bogdanović, who was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina and played for Croatia internationally, was selected as the 31st overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat, before being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He chose to play professionally in the Euro League until 2014, after Minnesota traded him to the Nets (then in New Jersey) in exchange for cash and a 2013 second-round pick. He played his first NBA game during the 2014-15 campaign. He spent the first 55 games of the 2016-17 season with the Nets, then finished the campaign with the Washington Wizards after a trade-deadline deal. He also played with the Indiana Pacers (2017-19), Utah Jazz (2019-22), Detroit Pistons (2022-24) and New York Knicks (2024). He also played for the Croatian national team during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, averaging 24.8 points in five contests.
Bogdanović technically finishes his NBA career with the same team he started with, after the Knicks traded him back to the Nets ahead of the 2024-25 campaign (as part of the deal that brought Mikal Bridges to NY). However, Bogdanović didn’t play last season due to his season-ending foot injury.
During his time with the Nets, Bogdanovic averaged 11.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game on 44.1/36.6/84.7 shooting splits while also making the All-Rookie team for the 2014-15 campaign. Bogdanovic ends his NBA career with averages of 15.6 points, 3.6 RPG, and 1.7 APG while shooting 46.0% from the field and 39.4% from three-point range.
Editorial credit: Ivica Drusany / Shutterstock.com