2021 fifth overall pick Jalen Suggs suffered a fractured right thumb on Monday for the Magic, but surgery won’t be necessary to repair the injury, according to Dan Savage of OrlandoMagic.com.
Savage writes that Suggs will be evaluated every two weeks to assess how much the bone has healed, and the healing process will determine when he returns to the court.
Through 21 contests (27.8 MPG), Suggs is averaging 12.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.6 APG and 1.1 SPG. His counting stats are solid, but like many rookies, he’s struggled with efficiency in the early going, committing 3.2 turnovers per game with a poor shooting line of .339/.255/.763.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Hawks assistant coach Jamelle McMillan is in the COVID-19 health and safety protocols and head coach Nate McMillan will be isolating until he has tested negative multiple times, the team announced (Twitter link). In a follow-up tweet, the team says that assistant coach Chris Jent will serve as head coach Dec. 1 against the Pacers. Jent is a veteran assistant and has been with the Hawks since 2017.
- Second-year Hawks big man Onyeka Okongwu is starting to ramp up activity while recovering from shoulder surgery. We noted last week he played 3-on-3, and now coach Nate McMillan says he’s going to start practicing 5-on-5 with the College Park Skyhawks, Atlanta’s G League affiliate, per Sarah K. Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). He’s expected to play in a G League game if the practices go well.
- LaMelo Ball is playing a major role in Miles Bridges‘ breakout season with the Hornets, Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer writes. Tjarks takes an in-depth look at the connection between the two players, noting that Bridges is an All-Star candidate this season with two-way impact. Tjarks says the Hornets may regret not giving Bridges a rookie scale extension at a discounted rate when they had the chance, stating that Bridges could earn a max contract next summer if he keeps playing at a high level.
LaMelo makes everybody better, that is why he is a superstar!
LaMelo [has the ability to] make everyone around him better, that is why he [will eventually become a big time superstar, once he becomes more consistent with his scoring.]
There, I fixed it for you..lol
Get real, dude!
LaMelo was a super sure prospect in the draft, which I always said had to be the #1 or any team would regret it, which of course I was right… & now I am telling you that LaMelo already is a superstar everyday of the week & twice on Sundays as a matter of fact!
Man, a Trae Young/Malcolm Brogdon backcourt would be awesome. After watching Hawks/Pacers last night, Hawks could definitely use him as a secondary playmaker to take some of the load off Trae. I don’t think Okongwu coming back is going to be enough.
I’ve always thought Brogdon would be the perfect pairing with Young..