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Magic Notes: Suggs, Banchero, Harris

February 3rd, 2024 at 5:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

Friday’s trip home to Minnesota inspired Magic guard Jalen Suggs to have one of his best games of the season, writes Gavin Dorsey of The Star Tribune. Suggs sparked a second-half comeback as he improved to 3-0 for his career at the Target Center. He played 36 minutes, which tied for the third-highest total of his career, and had 15 points, marking his best scoring game in two weeks.

“My muscles were tight, stomach was in knots,” Suggs said about playing in Minneapolis. “I kept seeing just faces in the crowd. I wanted to go talk to my people, share my love. This building is so special; I have a lot of memories here. But the unit, man, being able to share that with them and get the dub, which is all I wanted, all that with them, it made me happy. Smiles all around tonight.”

Suggs also contributed six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block as he filled up the stat sheet the way he used to in high school and college. He believes he’s moved past the difficulties of his first two seasons and is ready to be the player the Magic expected when they took him with the fifth pick in the 2021 draft.

“It’s funny, I was saying that before the game, this almost felt like the first time [playing at home] again,” Suggs said. “These past three years, not only was I a shell of myself, but I was kind of living a life of somebody I wasn’t. A lot of prayer, talking to family and work on myself, I feel like myself again.”

There’s more on the Magic:

  • Paolo Banchero, who received his first All-Star selection this week, is proving that he’s the type of player a franchise can build around, notes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Robbins states that coach Jamahl Mosley challenged Banchero to upgrade his defense during the offseason, and his improvement has helped Orlando reach the top five in team defensive rating. “Paolo’s playing great,” Franz Wagner said. “I think his poise, his confidence that he has — everybody else is picking up on that, and it has an impact on the whole group. That’s his way of leading the team.”
  • In an interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Banchero said he appreciates the individual honors, but team accomplishments are more important. He also talked about the benefits of playing in the FIBA World Cup last summer. “It helped me see the game through a different lens,” Banchero said. “It helped me just work on things that I’ve never really got to work on as a player, especially at this point in my life and career. And I just learned so much getting to be around those players, those coaches, that environment for 40 days.”
  • Veteran guard Gary Harris was able to return Friday after missing 14 games with a strained right calf, tweets Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel.
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Magic Notes: Isaac, Banchero, Suggs, Black

January 29th, 2024 at 8:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Magic forward Jonathan Isaac plans to be available tonight in Dallas for the second game of a back-to-back, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. It’s a significant step for Isaac, who has seen his career derailed by injuries over the past three years.

Isaac played 23 minutes Sunday against Phoenix with nine points and three rebounds, marking the second straight time he has exceeded 22 minutes. He has already missed 18 games this season, including seven in a row recently with a strained right hamstring, and he’s working with coach Jamahl Mosley and the team’s training staff to make sure he’s healthy for a potential playoff run.

“I’m getting there,” Isaac said. “Just talking with coach and figuring out how I’m coming along and what’s going to be the direction. I’m just telling them I’m ready to go. I’m going to continue to just take it one game at a time.”

Isaac was Orlando’s starting power forward early in his career, but ACL injuries cost him two full seasons and limited him to 11 games in 2022/23. He has become a valuable defensive presence off the bench, and his coach hopes to be able to use him more often as the season wears on.

“We’re able to push a little bit more of the limits of what he’s able to do and that’s going to continue to happen,” Mosley said. “We’ll just look at it on a game-to-game basis more than where we’ll fully go. Because it’s also (about) how he responds to these games and what it looks like for him.”

There’s more from Orlando:

  • Sunday’s win over the Suns was significant for a Magic team that has been sliding down the Eastern Conference standings following a hot start. Paolo Banchero tells Beede that the players need to regain their focus for the second half of the season (Twitter link). “We’ve just got to come together as much as we can, pick up the communication, pick up the intensity, and get back to being together as a group,” Banchero said. “It’s just that point in the season where it starts feeling like a grind for a lot of guys, including myself. We’ve just got to fight through it, push through it, come together as a group and be there for each other.”
  • Jalen Suggs left Friday’s game at Memphis in the first quarter due to a bruised left knee, but he was able to return on Sunday, Beede tweets. Suggs was back in his usual role, starting and posting 10 points, four rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes.
  • Isaac is impressed by rookie guard Anthony Black‘s desire to match up with the NBA’s best scorers, Beede adds (Twitter link). “There was one moment where I saw he wanted to guard (Devin) Booker and coach had told him to guard somebody else,” Isaac said. “… And he was frustrated. To have a young guy that wants to guard and wants to be in the game to make plays like that speaks to who he is. He’s going to continue to get better.”
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Injury Notes: Zion, Suggs, Harris, Jones, Suns, J. Porter

January 26th, 2024 at 9:28pm CST by Rory Maher

After being considered a game-time decision leading into Friday’s contest vs. Oklahoma City, Pelicans forward Zion Williamson was later ruled out with a bone contusion in his left foot, the team announced (via Twitter).

Williamson has a history of foot injuries, having missed the entire 2021/22 season with a broken fifth metatarsal on his right foot. Obviously though, this new injury is on the opposite foot, and there’s no indication that it will be a long-term issue — head coach Willie Green said imaging on Williamson’s foot “came back clean,” tweets Christian Clark of NOLA.com.

The former No. 1 overall pick is averaging 21.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 4.8 APG in 36 games this season. Friday was his ninth missed game in ’23/24.

Here are some more injury notes from around the NBA:

  • Starting Magic guard Jalen Suggs sustained a bruised left knee on Friday and was ruled out for the remainder of the matchup with Memphis, per the team (Twitter link). As a third-year former first-round pick, Suggs will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.
  • As Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel tweets, Suggs isn’t the only Magic backcourt member injured at the moment. Veteran guard Gary Harris still isn’t doing contact work yet as he continues to recover from a right calf strain, per head coach Jamahl Mosley. Friday was Harris’ 11th consecutive missed game.
  • Mavericks forward Derrick Jones Jr. was in “tremendous pain” after falling on his left wrist during Friday’s win over Atlanta, according to Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). Jones went straight to the locker room and was later ruled out with a left wrist sprain, per the Mavs (Twitter link).
  • Suns center Jusuf Nurkic exited Friday’s loss to Indiana due to left thumb injury and did not return, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. After the game, Nurkic said he jammed his thumb a few times, but X-rays were negative (Twitter link via Rankin). Guard Bradley Beal also exited Friday’s game after being inadvertently hit in the nose by Myles Turner, but he was able to return to the contest, Rankin adds. Head coach Frank Vogel said Beal may have suffered a broken nose, Rankin tweets. Beal said he didn’t feel any concussion symptoms but he couldn’t breathe out of his nose, with blood continuing to be an issue, per Rankin (Twitter link).
  • Raptors two-way big man Jontay Porter had to leave Friday’s game vs. the Clippers due to an eye injury he sustained earlier in the week vs. Memphis, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, who says Porter was cleared by an eye specialist on Friday and he has a follow-up appointment on Saturday (Twitter links).
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Injury Notes: J. Johnson, Robinson, Suggs, Tatum, Luka, Kawhi

December 23rd, 2023 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

There’s optimism that injured Hawks forward Jalen Johnson could be back in action as soon as Tuesday vs. Chicago, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Johnson was in the midst of a breakout season before suffering a left distal radius fracture on November 25. In his 14 healthy games this year, the 22-year-old averaged 14.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 31.4 minutes per night, with a .590/.421/.774 shooting line.

As Wojnarowski details, the Hawks’ performance, especially on defense, has nosedived since Johnson injured his wrist. The team is just 4-9 and ranks 29th in defensive efficiency without him. At 12-16, Atlanta in the mix for a play-in spot and currently sits percentage points behind Chicago for the No. 10 spot in the East.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

  • Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said on Friday that the eight-to-10 week timeline to reevaluate Mitchell Robinson‘s ankle injury remains unchanged and wouldn’t confirm that the team expects the center to miss the rest of the season. However, Thibodeau also didn’t deny that Robinson will be out for the year, simply stating that the club will know more once he’s reevaluated in February.
  • Still without starting point guard Markelle Fultz, the Magic are down another starting guard. Jalen Suggs, who is battling a sprained left wrist, missed Thursday’s game in Milwaukee and has been ruled out for Saturday’s contest in Indiana, tweets Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. Gary Harris will get a second consecutive start tonight in place of Suggs, who said on Thursday that he doesn’t anticipate missing much time with the injury, per Beede.
  • A pair of All-Stars are back in action today after a one-game absence. Jayson Tatum (left ankle sprain) is available for the Celtics, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link), while Luka Doncic (left quad strain) is no longer on the injury report for the Mavericks, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.
  • Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (left hip contusion), on the other hand, is missing a second consecutive game on Saturday vs. Boston (Twitter link via Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times).
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Southeast Notes: Heat, T. Jones, Wizards, Suggs

December 21st, 2023 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat used their 16th different starting lineup in 28 games on Wednesday at Orlando, but they keep finding ways to win, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo returned this week, but Jimmy Butler was held out with a strained left calf and Kevin Love had a stomach illness, forcing coach Erik Spoelstra to continue the personnel juggling that has been necessary since the start of the season.

“We do feel like we have great depth,” Spoelstra said. “We have great continuity, so I’m not as concerned when we’ve had to deal with guys missing games. It’s more about developing the consistency to our identity, which we know. We have the continuity. It’s about whoever is out there, we know what we need to try to do. We just need to do it more consistently.”

Chiang notes that only the Grizzlies, Hornets and Pistons have more missed games this season than Miami, and all those teams are near the bottom of the standings. Miami is tied for sixth in the East at 16-12 while getting contributions from up and down its roster. Reserves played a huge role on Wednesday as Josh Richardson, Duncan Robinson, Thomas Bryant and Haywood Highsmith all contributed to the win.

“Thomas was a plus-20. Obviously, (Highsmith) was really good defensively and then knocked down threes,” Spoelstra said. “So that makes everybody else notice out there. But he did a lot of other intangible things to contribute to winning. And J-Rich and Duncan were both so rock solid in this game. We don’t win this game without that production from those guys.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

  • The Wizards traded for point guard Tyus Jones this summer to be the on-court leader for a young team and he has excelled in that role so far, per Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports. Jones is posting career highs with 11.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, and Washington ranks second in the league in pace and 10th in scoring.“You can have play-makers, but there are a lot of guards in the league who are score first,” coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “They are capable of making plays and facilitating, but it’s very unique to have a guy who sees the game that way and is able to put other guys in the right spots.”
  • With the Wizards off to a 4-22 start, David Aldridge and Josh Robbins of The Athletic examine the roster and look at how management can get the team moving in the right direction. Sources tell the authors that Washington plans to emphasize “positional length,” basketball IQ and work ethic in next summer’s draft.
  • Michael Pina of The Ringer talks to Jalen Suggs about how he has helped the Magic improve by taking on a non-glamorous role.
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Southeast Notes: Magic, Martin, Young, Coulibaly

December 10th, 2023 at 1:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

Three starters and another rotation player sat out Friday’s game with injuries, but the Magic barely missed them in a 32-point win over Detroit, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. With Markelle Fultz, Jalen Suggs, Wendell Carter Jr. and Jonathan Isaac all unavailable, Orlando got production from Caleb Houstan, Chuma Okeke, Anthony Black and Goga Bitadze, who made his 17th straight start since Carter fractured the third metacarpal in left hand.

“We’ve said it from training camp and on, it’s a ‘we.’ No matter who it is, no matter who steps on that floor, they’re ready to go,” coach Jamahl Mosley said. “That’s what it says about our coaching staff, about these guys taking ownership of who we are.”

The Magic have shown tremendous depth and resilience in response to the bad injury luck, posting a 15-7 record that has them tied for second in the Eastern Conference. Mosley has been particularly impressed with Black, a rookie guard who was moved into the starting lineup when Fultz began experiencing left knee tendinitis in early November.

“He’s a kid that wants to take on every challenge,” Mosley said. “He does things that I haven’t seen certain guys do in a while with his length and size. That’s where his confidence comes from.”

Mosley didn’t provide many details about Suggs’ right ankle sprain, Beede tweets, saying team doctors are going to monitor how much he improves from game to game.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

  • Injuries have also been an issue for the Heat, who were missing three starters in Friday’s loss to Cleveland, notes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Miami has dropped five of its last seven games, but Caleb Martin doesn’t believe being short-handed should be used as an excuse. “It doesn’t matter who’s out there and who’s playing, who’s not,” Martin said. “We know what we should be doing, we just got to be better.”
  • Hawks guard Trae Young has been fined $25K for “confronting and directing inappropriate language toward a game official,” the league announced (via Twitter). The incident took place after Wednesday’s one-point loss to Brooklyn as Young thought he was fouled by Dennis Smith Jr. while trying to get off a potential game-winning shot (Twitter video link). The league’s last-two-minute review confirmed that Smith’s play was legal, tweets Kevin Chouinard of Hawks.com.
  • Wizards rookie Bilal Coulibaly studies a lot of game film to see where he can improve, and he concentrates on Kyle Kuzma as much as himself, according to Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports. “I watch the whole game to see how he plays. There’s a lot to take,” Coulibaly said of his teammate. “He’s been talking to me a lot about eventually going through the guy when going up for the layup. He’s got some great advice for me.”
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Magic Exercise 2024/25 Options On Wagner, Suggs, Banchero

October 4th, 2023 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

The Magic have exercised a series of rookie scale team options, guaranteeing the 2024/25 salaries for forward Franz Wagner, guard Jalen Suggs and forward Paolo Banchero, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel.

All three players already had guaranteed salaries for the upcoming season (2023/24). Now they’re locked for in at least one more season beyond that.

Wagner’s and Suggs’ fourth-year options for 2024/25 are worth $7,007,092 and $9,188,385, respectively. Both players will now be eligible for rookie scale extensions next offseason. As for Banchero, he’ll earn $12,160,800 in ’24/25 now that his third-year option has been picked up. Orlando will have to exercise his fourth-year option for ’25/26 next fall.

Wagner averaged 18.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 32.6 minutes per night across 80 appearances in his second NBA season. The 22-year-old forward, who posted a strong shooting line of .485/.361/.842 in 2022/23, helped lead Germany to a World Cup gold medal this summer.

Suggs, the fifth overall pick in 2021, has had a couple up-and-down seasons since going pro, shooting just .387/.271/.752 with averages of 10.8 PPG, 3.6 APG, and 3.3 RPG in 101 total NBA games (25.3 MPG). However, Orlando remains confident enough in his growth to commit to him beyond the coming season.

As for Banchero, the rising star is coming off a Rookie of the Year campaign in which he averaged a team-high 20.0 PPG to go along with 6.9 RPG and 3.7 APG on .427/.298/.738 shooting in 72 games (33.8 MPG). He’ll be looking to improve his shooting efficiency in year two and has spoken about wanting to become an All-Star.

The full list of rookie scale team option decisions, which are due October 31, can be found right here.

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Trade Rumors: Siakam, J. Allen, Mavs, Suggs, Suns

June 22nd, 2023 at 4:56pm CST by Luke Adams

There’s a “growing sentiment” that Pascal Siakam wouldn’t re-sign with a team that trades for him, according to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and TNT (Twitter link), who reports that the forward’s preference is to remain with the Raptors for the long term.

Siakam will be entering a contract year in 2023/24, so a club that gives up a significant package to acquire him would probably want assurances that he’d be willing to stick around for more than one season, even if he doesn’t agree to an extension right away.

It’s worth noting that Siakam would qualify for a super-max contract – worth 35% of the cap instead of 30% – if he makes an All-NBA team in 2024, but would become ineligible for the super-max if he’s traded. That’s not to say that his reported desire to remain in Toronto isn’t genuine, but he’d also have contract-related reasons to want to stay put. Either way, his apparent stance figures to reduce his trade value for the Raptors.

Here are a few more trade-related rumors and notes from around the NBA:

  • The Cavaliers are receiving trade inquiries and offers for center Jarrett Allen, but have rebuffed those overtures, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who reports that the Mavericks are among the teams that have reached out to Cleveland about Allen. As Fedor notes (via Twitter), the Cavs are scouring the trade market for a two-way wing and don’t have a ton of assets to offer for one without including a core player like Allen, but they don’t appear inclined to go that route at this point.
  • The Lakers would be among the teams with interest in Magic guard Jalen Suggs if the team were to make him available, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. There’s no indication that Orlando is considering moving Suggs, but if the club drafts a guard or two in the lottery tonight, its backcourt would be getting a little crowded.
  • The Suns had the option of trading Chris Paul to the Warriors for a Jordan Poole-centric package like the one the Wizards received, says John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). However, according to Gambadoro, Phoenix determined that Bradley Beal was a better fit for what the club wanted.
  • Deandre Ayton isn’t a lock to open the 2023/24 season in Phoenix, but new Suns head coach Frank Vogel “loves” the young Suns center, who reminds him of a more skilled Roy Hibbert, according to Gambadoro (Twitter link). Vogel’s fondness for Ayton is a factor in favor of him sticking with the Suns, Gambadoro adds.
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Draft Rumors: Miller, Hornets, Blazers, Pacers, Magic, More

June 21st, 2023 at 8:44pm CST by Rory Maher

The Hornets appear to be leaning toward selecting Alabama’s Brandon Miller with the second overall pick in tomorrow night’s draft, according to reports from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link via ClutchPoints), Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link), Jeremy Woo of ESPN (Insider link) and Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

Wojnarowski, Givony, and Woo have all heard from sources who say Miller performed much better in his second workout on Monday in front of Hornets brass, including owner Michael Jordan. Wojnarowski goes so far as to say Miller “further solidified his standing as Charlotte’s choice at No. 2.”

For his part, Miller said in a SiriusXM NBA Radio interview (Twitter video link) that he didn’t feel intimidated by working out in front of Jordan, noting that he didn’t grow up watching the Hall of Famer. He also said he had a “fun time” exchanging verbal jabs with Jordan.

Here are more rumors on the draft, which is less than 24 hours away:

  • It would take a “significant return” for the Trail Blazers to part with the No. 3 pick in a draft that many view as having a consensus top-three prospects, but they’ll continue to listen to offers up until it’s time to make a selection, Wojnarowski said on ESPN’s NBA Today (YouTube link). “Certainly, they want to build around Damian Lillard, Wojnarowski said, per RealGM. “That’s been their focus. Damian Lillard says he wants to continue to be in Portland. So I think they’ll go right up to the clock on Thursday night. Offers and outreach from teams tend to get more serious the closer you get to the deadline…Portland may not have gotten the best offers that will come to them, but they will here in the next 24 hours or so. This is a significant decision for this organization, for Damian Lillard’s future in Portland.” If Miller gets picked No. 2, the Blazers would almost certainly select Scoot Henderson, Woj added.
  • Fischer confirms a recent report that the Spurs are inquiring about adding a second lottery pick and have been linked to French wing Bilal Coulibaly, who played with projected No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama on Metropolitans 92. Interestingly, sources tell Woo that Coulibaly hasn’t unilaterally granted access to his medical details, indicating he may have a preferred destination in mind.
  • Cam Whitmore‘s stock may be falling due to medical concerns, sources tell Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report, who has Whitmore going No. 9 to the Jazz in his latest mock draft. Whitmore had been viewed as an option for the Rockets (No. 4) or Pistons (No. 5).
  • Although Ausar Thompson canceled a workout with the Pacers (No. 7) last week, he still had a meeting with team officials, he told Fischer. Indiana sent a “select group” of personnel to Atlanta to meet with Thompson over the weekend, Fischer writes.
  • Anthony Black‘s camp “initially showed resistance” to the idea of working out for Orlando due to the Magic‘s guard depth, sources tell Fischer. However, he wound up leaving a strong impression on the team and now thinks he could be picked No. 6 overall, he told Fischer. If the Magic do pick a guard, they’ve given rivals the impression they’d consider trading Cole Anthony, who has a “great relationship” with the front office, or Jalen Suggs. “They didn’t tell me that,” Black said, “but that’s what I figured they’d do if they picked me.”
  • The Lakers have been exploring all kinds of options with their first-round pick (No. 17), including possibly moving up a few slots, Fischer writes. Keyonte George could be a target — the guard has also been linked to the Raptors at No. 13, per Fischer.
  • According to Fischer, Jarace Walker believes he could go as high as No. 5 (Pistons), with a floor possibly being Indiana (No. 7); Taylor Hendricks believes he could go anywhere from No. 5 to No. 12 (Thunder); and Dereck Lively II has been told he could be picked anywhere from No. 10 (Dallas) to No. 20 (Houston).
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Southeast Notes: Magic, Trent, Hawks, Sanogo, Wizards

June 6th, 2023 at 8:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Magic hold a pair of lottery picks and an early second-round selection in this month’s draft. What picks would be ideal at those spots? Jeremy Woo of ESPN weighs in on that subject and believes Overtime Elite shooting guard Ausar Thompson and Kansas shooting guard Gradey Dick would make nice fits at No. 6 and No. 11, respectively. Belmont small forward Ben Sheppard would give the Magic another shooting option if they chose him at No. 36, Woo adds.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

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