{"id":431369,"date":"2026-01-23T03:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431369\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T03:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:35:11","slug":"orlando-magics-jalen-suggs-eager-to-return-franz-wager-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431369\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic’s Jalen Suggs eager to return; Franz Wager out"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Magic<\/a> will have to wait at least one more game for the return of Jalen Suggs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The All-Defensive guard was ruled out of his eighth consecutive contest because of a right knee MCL bruise before Orlando<\/a> hosted the Hornets<\/a> on Thursday night at Kia Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cJalen\u2019s doing well,\u201d coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a> said after shootaround Thursday morning. \u201c(He) came up OK after (Wednesday\u2019s) work. He\u2019s going to get some more work in (Thursday). We\u2019ll see how he goes from there. Won\u2019t be ready to go (Thursday) but try looking forward to the next couple games, maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not long after it was determined that Suggs would remain out, the Magic also ruled out Franz Wagner due to left ankle soreness, the Sentinel learned Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The team is going to monitor how Wagner responds to treatment moving forward, the Sentinel learned, after he played two games against Memphis in Europe following a 16-game absence due to a left high ankle sprain suffered Dec. 7 at New York.<\/p>\n

Suggs was seen going through various on-court drills following shootaround at the AdventHealth Training Center and his work included playing three-on-three with two-way teammates Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson and other members of the Magic coaching staff.<\/p>\n

He had done \u201ca little bit of light contact\u201d during Wednesday\u2019s practice as well. Typically, full contact is the precursor to an injured player\u2019s return to game action.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good,\u201d Suggs said after shootaround. \u201cJust building back my confidence. Just eager to get playing. I\u2019m not going to lie, I\u2019m antsy. I don\u2019t like sitting out. I\u2019ve said that a million times so I ain\u2019t going to beat a broken drum, but I feel good.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been nice to gain my perspective, but I\u2019m ready to hoop, I ain\u2019t going to lie,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Suggs last played Jan. 2 at Chicago before Bulls forward Jalen Smith landed on his leg late in the third quarter of a game Orlando lost by seven points. Prior to that contest, Suggs had only played in one game after he missed seven due to left hip bruise.<\/p>\n

He only played in 35 games last season due to various injuries and underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a cartilage fragment in his left knee. Out of the 125 regular season contests, including Thursday, that Orlando played this season and last, Suggs was only available for 46.4% (or 58) of the possible games.<\/p>\n

He said patience has been the toughest part about rehabbing his latest injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery trying on the patience part, trying not to be too hasty in decision-making, which I think is growth,\u201d Suggs said. \u201cIt\u2019s the last place I want to be, it\u2019s the last thing I want to do, it\u2019s the last thing I was going for while I was playing. Sometimes things happen that you literally can\u2019t control. So, for me, it was the patience piece both in knowing that I\u2019m feeling better and feeling good (but) still listening to the people around me, listening to the minds that are helping take care of me, trusting that in due time I\u2019ll be able to get back out there and play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not gone, it\u2019s just delayed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Magic, who host the Cavaliers on Saturday, were 9-10 without Suggs on the floor prior to Thursday\u2019s game against Charlotte. In 23 games, he\u2019s averaged 15 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.9 steals and half-a-block during 25.4 minutes per night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings so much joy to this group,\u201d Mosley said about the Magic guard. \u201cHis focus, his intensity, his energy, it\u2019s (all) just contagious. And I think that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to continue to need from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether he\u2019s just working out or we\u2019re just going through walk-through, the energy that he brings is just contagious for this group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Cavaliers<\/p>\n

When: 7 p.m., Saturday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Magic will have to wait at least one more game for the return of Jalen Suggs. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,3914,590,12985,13882,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-431369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-orlando-magic","13":"tag-social","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}