MIAMI _ Timberwolves forward Nemanja Bjelica will miss the rest of the season because of a foot injury sustained in the second quarter of Wednesday's 117-104 loss at Boston.
An MRI taken Thursday morning revealed the injury to Bjelica's left foot, the team announced. It didn't specify the nature or extent of the injury other than it is season ending. The team called it an ankle injury after Wednesday's game, but termed it a foot injury after getting the MRI results.
Bjelica, 28 and in his second NBA season, will seek opinions from specialists to decide treatment options. The 6-10 forward played fewer than 12 minutes Wednesday before he was injured. After the game, he wore a protective boot on his left foot and left TD Garden on crutches.
A second-round draft pick in 2011 who has one more season left on a three-year contract he signed in July 2015, Bjelica had four double-doubles in his last seven games before Wednesday's game. He averaged 9.9 points and 8.3 rebounds while playing 28.9 minutes in those seven games and particularly seemed to be establishing a relationship running the floor ahead of point guard Ricky Rubio.
The two connected for two nifty passing plays with Rubio dishing and Bjelica scoring in Monday's home victory over Washington.
"It's big," Rubio said after Wednesday's game about Bjelica's absence. "He has been giving us a lot of great minutes and I hope he can continue playing. But we saw it tonight how our options went with him when he went down."
Bjelica, from Belgrade, Serbia, is averaging 6.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game this season.
