{"id":384681,"date":"2026-08-29T17:03:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T17:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/384681\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T17:03:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T17:03:42","slug":"orlando-magics-jalen-suggs-talks-nba-global-camp-sean-sweeney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/384681\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic’s Jalen Suggs talks NBA global camp, Sean Sweeney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up in Minnesota, Jalen Suggs<\/a> had the opportunity to attend various basketball camps, including one hosted by Chris Paul.<\/p>\n

That experience had a major impact on Suggs, as it was a chance for him to see an elite NBA<\/a> guard up close and personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing an NBA player while you were a young kid chasing hoop dreams (was) one of the best feelings in the world,\u201d the Magic<\/a> guard recently told the Orlando Sentinel<\/a>. \u201cIt made it feel so attainable. You felt like the coolest kid in the world for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward to this week, Suggs, now 25 years old and entering his sixth season in the league, found himself in a similar spot as Paul: serving as a coach and mentor for up-and-coming basketball players at a camp.<\/p>\n

The Magic guard spent Wednesday-Saturday at the inaugural men\u2019s Basketball Without Borders<\/a> \u201cNext Up\u201d camp, which was held in Istanbul, Turkey. The camp brought together 80 of the top male, high-school-age prospects from around the world to participate in drills, seminars and games under the guidance of current and former NBA and FIBA players and coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always love spreading knowledge of the game, and that comes very naturally to me,\u201d Suggs said by phone from Istanbul. \u201cSo, it\u2019s been really fun to be here and see these kids grow over the past couple of days. \u2026 Overall, I get multiple opportunities a day to interact and do some skills and drills and have conversations with the kids at the camp. They\u2019re so talented. That\u2019s one thing that\u2019s jumped out at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis next generation that\u2019s coming up has all of the skills, has all of the abilities (and) the handle to be able to get to their spots and knock down shots,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s just about continuing to teach them the way of how to become more efficient, some of the intricate details of the game that they might be missing out on. The fact that I\u2019m the one who\u2019s able to do that in this space and during this time period, it\u2019s such a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second go-round for Suggs<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event, which marks the 25th anniversary of the Basketball Without Borders program, is the second time Suggs has coached for the organization that represents the NBA and FIBA\u2019s global basketball development and community outreach initiative. He previously coached at a BWB camp in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2023.<\/p>\n

In Turkey, Suggs was joined by Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson, NBA legend Vlade Divac, former NBA player Danilo Gallinari, Washington Wizards forward Khris Middleton and Clippers center Brook Lopez.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of great teaching going on here,\u201d Suggs said. \u201cA lot of high level coaches, a lot of high level players, and so many people who are pouring into them that are part of BWB and FIBA that want to see them succeed. Them having this opportunity to be in this setting, receive this coaching, hear the terminology \u2026 I think everything about this opportunity is amazing for the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, the young prospects aren\u2019t the only ones gaining something from the experience.<\/p>\n

Suggs said he is learning, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey teach me patience, for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool for me to take a step back and look at the game from a different perspective. Now I\u2019m trying to teach 16- and 17-year-old kids who are coming from all over the world with different language barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m trying to go into my memory bank and reflect on everything that I\u2019ve learned over my career that has helped me and then communicate it to these kids in a manner in which they\u2019ll understand,\u201d he added. \u201cTo tap back into everything that all of the coaches that I\u2019ve had from all the spaces that I\u2019ve been to, to the camps that I\u2019ve gotten to be at, everything that people have poured into me, I\u2019m just giving back.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those coaches who\u2019s helped Suggs is his newest: Sean Sweeney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Getting to know the new coach<\/p>\n

A fellow Minnesota native, Sweeney is entering his first season as an NBA head coach after he spent the past 15 years rising through the ranks around the league. The Magic hired him in June after Orlando<\/a> fired Jamahl Mosley<\/a> following a third straight first-round exit.<\/p>\n

Sweeney and Suggs have been in communication throughout the summer and have met multiple times to watch film and pick each other\u2019s brains, according to the Magic guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really shared the vision in which we want to play and the type of player he wants me to be for our team to help maximize our unit as a whole,\u201d Suggs said about Sweeney. \u201cThe fact that we get to connect here and continue to chase a common goal of making deep playoff runs and go and accomplish something that the city has never done before, it\u2019s nothing short of a blessing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very intentional from God, so I\u2019m very happy for him,\u201d Suggs added. \u201c(It\u2019s) very cool to see how he\u2019s taken on the role so far and the things that he\u2019s doing to change the environment and how we run things in Orlando.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Magic<\/p>\n

Courtesy of NBAE<\/p>\n

Magic guard Jalen Suggs takes part in a media session at the inaugural Basketball Without Borders Next Up camp in Istanbul, Turkey on Wednesday. (Courtesy of NBAE)<\/p>\n

Suggs described his summer to this point as \u201cpretty slow\u201d from a travel perspective. He said he was in Minnesota for all of June and Las Vegas<\/a> for all of July, including the two weeks Orlando spent at Summer League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve really loved how it\u2019s been so far in the sense that I\u2019ve been able to lock in and really get into a rhythm and routine because I\u2019m not having to fly to different places every other week,\u201d he said of his offseason. \u201cI\u2019ve had the opportunity of really locking in, getting better and doing a deep dive into myself and the things I need to do to improve to help the squad out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magic open training camp Sept. 29 at the AdventHealth Training Center. While Suggs is looking forward to returning to Orlando, his experience in Istanbul is one he won\u2019t forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this camp has been perfect because I haven\u2019t gotten to travel because of how present and how stagnant I\u2019ve been in working,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing I get to come out here and not only see a beautiful, beautiful place but also get to interact with these kids and let my mind drift away from preparing for the season and the heaviness of that to just kind of be (myself) for a bit and truly enjoy the game of basketball for what it is at its purest form, just continuing to teach it, so that future generations and kids from all over the world can take it in their own way and the game of basketball keeps growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve loved my summer, and I really do miss the guys. I\u2019m excited to get back rolling and get in the same space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up in Minnesota, Jalen Suggs had the opportunity to attend various basketball camps, including one hosted by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,76046,110],"class_list":["post-384681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}