Andrew Bogut Injury Update: Cleveland Cavaliers Lose Center For Season [Video]

The Andrew Bogut injury update is not what Cleveland Cavaliers fans wanted to hear. Bogut broke his leg against the Miami Heat on Monday night (March 6), bringing an end to his regular season. The Cavs had recently signed Bogut for the remainder of the 2017 NBA season, but now he is out indefinitely. As seen in the video below, Bogut was injured while trying to play on defense as the Cavs took on the Heat in Cleveland.

A report from the NBA’s account on Twitter broke the bad news. The Andrew Bogut injury update from the Cleveland Clinic is that he has a fractured left tibia. X-rays were performed at the arena after he went down less than two minutes into his debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The veteran center had been acquired to give the Cavs an added presence in the low post, signing him as a free agent after the Philadelphia 76ers gave him a buyout.

Andrew Bogut was helped off the court just moments into his Cavs debut. pic.twitter.com/SqzzyiC2hz

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 7, 2017

The Cleveland Cavaliers would end up losing this game to the Miami Heat, falling at home by the score of 106-98. It was a very empty box score for Bogut, who finished with zero points and zero rebounds but had enough time on the floor to commit two personal fouls. Tristan Thompson was forced to play additional minutes in the second half and it wasn’t enough to put this game in the win column for the Cavs.

This a bad loss for the Cavs, and it was made even worse by the Andrew Bogut injury update. This was a game that the team needed to win order to start creating some separation for the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. The team has now lost two-straight games and only has a two-and-a-half game lead over the Boston Celtics. At 42-20, the Cavs aren’t where they wanted to be at this point of the regular season, but there is still a lot of time left for the players to get on the same page.

Bogut started the 2016-17 NBA season with the Dallas Mavericks. He had been traded to the Mavs by the Golden State Warriors in what amounted to a salary dump. The Mavs then traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Nerlens Noel right before the NBA trade deadline. The 76ers never intended to keep him, though, taking advantage of the draft pick that came with him. After Bogut got bought out of his contract, he was free to sign with any other team.

For players on the Cleveland Cavaliers, this Andrew Bogut injury update won’t come as a surprise. It was reported during the television broadcast that as Bogut was being helped to the locker room by Tristan Thompson, that he stated he knew his leg was broken. That’s never good news to hear from a teammate, but it was also later confirmed by medical staff in the arena. It compounded what was already turning into a terrible night for Cleveland, as former Cavs player Dion Waiters scored 29 points against the team that had given up on him.

There are just 20 games left in the regular season and the Cavs are going to have to quickly regroup from this frustrating loss. The team does have a few days to recover from losing Bogut, with the next game coming on Thursday night (March 9) against the Detroit Pistons. The Cavs then have to play the Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets in back-to-back road games over the weekend. There are a lot of winnable games through the month of March, but the team then finishes with a three-game stretch against the Washington Wizards, San Antonio Spurs, and Chicago Bulls.

Not having the size that Bogut could have provided is going to hurt the Cleveland Cavaliers on both ends of the court. There is nothing that the team can do but try to persevere it, though, as injuries have become a familiar tale for this team. Over the past three years, the Cavs have lost Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving to severe injuries as well, with Love currently nursing another injury of his own. The hope was that Love could be brought back slowly once he is healthy again, but this Andrew Bogut injury update may force the coaching staff to alter those plans a bit.

[Featured Image by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images]