Rudy Gobert Injury Update: Jazz big man to miss extended time

Utah Jazz centre Rudy Gobert will miss a minimum of four weeks of action after suffering a bone bruise on Friday, the team announced on Sunday. Gobert suffered the injury during Friday's 84-74 home defeat to the Miami Heat.

An MRI revealed that Gobert suffered a right tibia contusion. He will be re-evaluated in four weeks. The defensive ace suffered the injury Friday when Heat guard Dion Waiters literally dived into Gobert's knees to claim control of a loose ball in the third quarter.

Gobert sat out of Saturday's 114-106 victory over the Brooklyn Nets as Derrick Favors started at the centre spot. After suffering the injury Friday, Gobert called Waiters' dive "a dirty play."

"I was feeling a little sore. I know that my ligaments were fine, so it was just pain. It feels better than it looked on the video. I think it was a dirty play, but no matter what the most important thing is to keep getting better and to win tomorrow."

Did Dion Waiters intentionally hurt Rudy Gobert?

Several television replays don't necessarily suggest whether Waiters intentionally tried to hurt Gobert. But it could have been potentially been a worse injury. "He just dove right into my knee. Kind of like the same thing that happened before on my MCL so my knee just went inside and kind of popped inside and back out," an irate Gobert is quoted as saying by Desert News.

Rudy Gobert is averaging 13.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in his fifth season in the NBA. He is currently the frontrunner to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. Despite losing backcourt stars Gordon Hayward and George Hill in free agency, the Utah Jazz have begun the season with a respectable 6-7 record and are in the running for another postseason berth. Stay tuned for the latest Rudy Gobert injury update.