Magic Notes: Suggs, Da Silva, Harris, Joseph

Jalen Suggs will miss Sunday’s game against Utah after leaving Friday’s contest with severe back spasms, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. Suggs had to be wheelchaired to the locker room after collapsing to the court and writhing in pain late in the second quarter.

It’s the latest in a seemingly endless string of injuries for Orlando, which was already playing without stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, along with Anthony Black, Moritz Wagner and Gary Harris. Beede said Suggs seemed to be in good spirits after the game, but “the concern level was real” about the injury, which was diagnosed as a lower back strain.

“Hopefully it’s not as bad as it looked out there,” Cory Joseph said. “It’s kind of been, unfortunately, a theme this season — we have guys going down. We just know ‘next man up’ mentality but definitely we wanted to pull this one out for him, as for Moe and Franz, Paolo, Gary and AB. Too many people, right? So, [we] never want to see that happen but we know he’s a fighter and whatever it is, he’ll overcome it. For us, we’ve just got to continue the course.”

There’s more on the Magic:

• Tristan Da Silva set a career high in scoring for the second time this week with 25 points Friday night, Beede adds in the same piece. The rookie small forward had 21 points against Brooklyn on Wednesday, but he has also been held scoreless in two of his last four games. “I’m just really trying to take it all in as a journey,” Da Silva said. “As a rookie, you’re obviously going to have ups and downs. There’s games where you might not play as well, where the shot is not falling. And you have games like tonight where you feel really good. But I’m just trying to stay even-keeled and trying to not let a single game kind of define my mental headspace.”
• Harris is dealing with another left hamstring strain, the same injury that sidelined him for 13 games earlier in the season, Beede tweets. Harris missed Friday’s contest and has already been ruled out for Sunday.
• Joseph, a native of Canada, scored in double figures for the first time with the Magic during Friday’s game at Toronto, Beede states in a separate story. It was part of a dominant night for Orlando’s reserves, who outscored Toronto’s bench, 43-18.