- Magic forward Jonathan Isaac provided an update on his recovery from a torn ACL, tweets Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel. Isaac told reporters he has started jumping while shooting, and the ACL doesn’t feel as stiff as it used to. He wants to strengthen his quad, hamstring and calf muscles before he resumes running. Isaac is expected to miss the entire season.
The Magic will be without Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac for the rest of the season due to their torn ACLs, but the team is moving closer to getting some of its other injured players back on the court. According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link), head coach Steve Clifford said that veteran guard Michael Carter-Williams (foot) could return as soon as Friday after missing Orlando’s last 12 games.
Meanwhile, Clifford couldn’t provide exact timetables for when Magic forwards Chuma Okeke (knee) and Al-Farouq Aminu (knee) will play again, but did say that Okeke will likely be ready to go before Aminu is, Robbins adds.
- The sixth overall pick in 2018, Magic center Mohamed Bamba has an underwhelming NBA résumé so far, but it’s unfair to label him a bust since injuries and a lack of playing time have prevented him from showing what he can do, contends Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer. The 22-year-old has been limited to 33 total minutes across four games so far this season.
- Salary cap concerns will provide incentive for the Magic to trade Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon before this year’s deadline, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
The Magic‘s performance as of late without point guard Markelle Fultz has highlighted his importance to the club, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. The Magic are 1-6 since Fultz was lost for the season with an ACL tear. Fultz’s savvy court vision had been a key component of the Magic’s offense.
“We’ve got to figure something out to try to get us going into offense smoother and understand how we’ve got to play,” shooting guard Terrence Ross noted. “With no Markelle we’re trying to figure it out, but it’s tough. So we’ve got to keep going at it.”
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- Hawks wing De’Andre Hunter has grown into the club’s most reliable player, with an improved offensive attack, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic opines. Hunter’s development can be a boon to the franchise in both the short and long term. “He has a chance to be really, really special,” Hawks center Clint Capela said. “To be able to guard the star on the opposite team every night, (it) has been amazing to see that.”
- With the Wizards losing starting center Thomas Bryant for the year due to a torn left ACL, the club may need to shore up the position with some additional help. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington posits that recently-waived big man Alex Len could be an intriguing defensive fit for the team.
- Given the season-long absences of recently-extended young starters Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac, Josh Robbins of The Athletic explores whether or not it makes sense for the Magic to tank for a high draft pick this season.
Magic guard Markelle Fultz, who suffered a torn left ACL earlier this month, underwent successful surgery on Wednesday to repair that tear, the team announced in a press release.
The Magic confirmed in their announcement that Fultz will miss the remainder of the 2020/21 season, as expected. His return next season will depend on how he responds to treatment and rehabilitation, per the club. If the ’21/22 regular season tips off in October, it’s possible the former No. 1 pick won’t be ready, since it often takes upwards of a year for players to return from major ACL injuries.
Fultz, 22, averaged a career-best 14.3 PPG and 6.1 APG in his seven healthy games this season, though his shooting percentages in the early going (.396 FG%, .250 3PT%) were well below his modest career rates.
Although Fultz faces a long recovery timeline, he at least won’t have to worry about dealing with restricted free agency during the summer of 2021, since he signed a three-year contract extension in December. That new deal will pay him a guaranteed $16.5MM salary both next season and in 2022/23.
[RELATED: 2020/21 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]
The Magic will also play the rest of the 2020/21 season without young cornerstone forward Jonathan Isaac, who suffered a torn ACL of his own. The team was granted a disabled player exception following Isaac’s injury and has applied for one to replace Fultz as well. Now that the point guard has undergone surgery and his recovery outlook is clearer, that application will likely be approved soon.
- Magic guard Evan Fournier, who has been on the shelf for the team’s last nine games due to back spasms, will be available for Wednesday’s game vs. Minnesota, the team announced (via Twitter). Orlando was 4-0 with Fournier healthy to start the season, but lost the game in which he was injured and has slumped badly since then. Fournier’s return will be a welcome sight for the 6-8 club.
- Magic officials and players have said that Markelle Fultz has remained upbeat as he begins the long process of coming back from a torn ACL, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “I think he’s got a great attitude about the whole thing,” head coach Steve Clifford said. “Let’s put it this way: He’s handling his injury a lot better than his coach is.”
Magic center Mohamed Bamba stayed in Orlando rather than traveling to Boston for the Magic’s Friday tilt against the Celtics due to the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocols, according to Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).
Robbins notes that Bamba’s absence is a result of “non-team contact tracing,” though Bamba himself has not tested positive for COVID-19.
The 6-5 Magic are currently the No. 5 seed in the East, mostly behind the play of starting center Nikola Vučević, guard Terrence Ross, and forward Aaron Gordon.
Bamba’s absence may not have much of an on-court impact for the Magic. The 22-year-old reserve big man out of Texas is averaging 5.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 0.5 APG and 0.5 BPG across a career-low 8.3 MPG in four games for the Magic this season.
Bamba previously contracted the coronavirus in June and struggled to recover through the beginning of the NBA’s Orlando-based summer restart to the 2019/20 season. At the time, he dealt with significant symptoms, including fatigue, muscle soreness, and a temporary loss of his senses of taste and smell.
A third consecutive Celtics game will be postponed, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Wednesday’s contest between the C’s and the Magic won’t be played as scheduled.
The NBA issued a press release confirming the postponement, noting within its announcement that Boston doesn’t have the league-required minimum of eight players available.
As Tim Bontemps of ESPN observes (via Twitter), the Celtics’ most recent injury report, released on Sunday, included seven players (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Grant Williams, Tristan Thompson, Robert Williams, Javonte Green, and Semi Ojeleye) out due to health and safety protocols and two more (Kemba Walker and Romeo Langford) sidelined due to injuries. That would leave eight players available, so it seems likely that at least one more player has been ruled out since then.
The Celtics and Magic had been scheduled to play a pair of games in Boston this week. The second of those two contests, set to be played on Friday, remains up in the air for the time being. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Magic won’t be traveling to Boston today. However, they could do so later in the week.