The Orlando Magic were dealt another significant blow on the injury front this weekend after point guard Jalen Suggs exited his team’s NBA Cup semifinal loss to the Knicks with an apparent hip injury.
Suggs was in obvious discomfort in the 3rd quarter, though he attempted to play through the pain, before departing the contest. The 24 year old had a blistering first half, putting up 25 points, but couldn’t seem to get loose in the early going of the second half, favouring his left hip as he moved up and down the court.
Afterwards Suggs told reporters he couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment that he aggravated the injury but could be seen struggling to put weight on his left side even after the contest.
“It’s the part that sucks the most,” Suggs said of having to miss time with an injury. “I truly tried [to play]. There’s nowhere else I would have rather been than on the court battling with my guys, especially in a close game. But [God] be having other plans, and I can’t be mad at his plans.”
Teammate Paolo Banchero confirmed that Suggs had been battling through some bumps and bruises the last few games, but didn’t elaborate further. “He’s been battling through some pain the last few games,” Banchero said. “He’s just been giving it his all for the team and kind of playing through it, so you hope it’s not too bad, whatever the injury is. We don’t want to lose him.”
“He gave us a great effort in that first half … unfortunately, he couldn’t go in the second half.”
It’s the second injury to a key player for Orlando in less than a week. Forward Franz Wagner exited his team’s loss, ironically also to the Knicks, earlier this week with a left leg injury of his own. With both Wagner and Suggs now seemingly sidelined, the Magic will need to lean even more on Banchero and guard Desmond Bane to keep them afloat in the wide open Eastern Conference.
At a minimum, it would appear as though they’ll be shorthanded for their upcoming Western Conference road trip which will see them take on the Nuggets, Jazz, Warriors, and Trail Blazers in the lead up to Christmas Day.
Photo: Betp. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.