{"id":9516,"date":"2025-10-18T06:37:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T06:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/9516\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T06:37:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T06:37:22","slug":"orlando-magic-guard-jalen-suggs-provides-injury-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/9516\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs provides injury update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday marked 264 days since Jalen Suggs<\/a> suited up to take the court in an NBA<\/a> game. That\u2019s how long it\u2019s been since he last played Jan. 25 at home against the Pistons before his season took a turn for the worse.<\/p>\n

Although Suggs knew he wasn\u2019t playing in Orlando\u2019<\/a>s preseason finale at Kia Center<\/a> against the Pelicans<\/a>, the Magic<\/a> guard wanted to know what it felt like again to go through his pre-game routine and wear his uniform just like the rest of his teammates.<\/p>\n

As he put it, the process, that was once the minutiae of life in the league, was beginning to feel foreign to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to mentally feel like I\u2019m preparing to sub in a game so that once the time comes, because it has been so long, there\u2019s no extra emotion that I\u2019m carrying over from putting a uniform on,\u201d Suggs told the Orlando Sentinel and OrlandoMagicDaily.com<\/a> in the locker room before Thursday\u2019s preseason contest. \u201cThis is a great day, really, to just get adjusted to the space, to the new environment [and] our new arena, and really immerse myself here and watch the boys get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys,\u201d as Suggs referred to his teammates, got a win over New Orleans<\/a>, 132-125, when the Magic wrapped up the preseason 4-0 with Franz Wagner<\/a> (24 points) and Paolo Banchero<\/a> (19) leading the way for coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear exactly when Suggs, who is recovering from a left knee trochlea cartilage tear suffered last season, will be able to join Orlando in live game action.<\/p>\n

Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said at the team\u2019s media day Sept. 29<\/a> the franchise was targeting opening night \u2014 next Wednesday against the Heat \u2014 for Suggs, but the Magic guard Thursday didn\u2019t provide an updated expectation for when he\u2019d return.<\/p>\n

What Suggs did share, however, was that when he is back, he can rely on the work he put in the offseason to get right again.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that\u2019s been worked on, in terms of my body, this summer gives me a lot of confidence in doing that, not having to come out and second guess or change anything,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done everything we needed to and checked every box, which is nice, and none of it has been rushed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mosley said Thursday morning Suggs \u201cresponded well\u201d to the limited contact work he did in practice this week. That included some 3-on-3 drills, as opposed to full 5-on-5, after Suggs previously only took part in individual non-contact work this preseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be in the mix fully and be a part of that has been fun lately,\u201d Suggs said. \u201cI\u2019m really just trying to keep an open mind, pick up things as we\u2019re going along, continue to find flow with Desmond (Bane) and the rest of the five just because it\u2019s been so long since I\u2019ve seen that setting, but it\u2019s been great.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact we get to be home for this last stretch of the preseason and through the first couple games of the regular season, really is nice for me to stack up some few great weeks before we get rolling,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m feeling great mentally, physically in a good space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suggs said one of the last hurdles that remains is the ability to fully stop while moving at full speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really just that \u2014 being explosive and stopping out of explosiveness, which are just things you need to protect yourself out there,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce we got all that established, the hardest part has just been watching everybody else hoop, to be honest. Harder than letting everything else coming together physically.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, a ton of mental reps,\u201d he added. \u201cI feel like that\u2019s helped me slow down. It\u2019s helped given me a whole other perspective on the game [and] myself, but I\u2019m ready to get back to feeling things in the moment and being out on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the interim, Suggs said he\u2019s remained engaged and on the same page as his teammates by making a concerted effort to be actively present in practice, scrimmages and the four preseason contests. He\u2019s used his voice from the sidelines to help out and has focused on being attentive to the team\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that\u2019s another leap in going from good to great, is detailing your work and detailing all the things you\u2019re doing to prepare when it comes on the floor,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to do that to the best of my abilities but there\u2019s just a lot of things you can\u2019t replicate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suggs compared the process to what he went through as a rookie and sophomore with his right ankle. Across two seasons, he missed close to 40 games because of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cA different situation, but a lot of the same,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, this time around, [I am] just not trying to rush it, especially as it\u2019s gotten to the tail end of the process. It\u2019s been pretty difficult but you try not to rush any part of that, taking it a day at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suggs mentioned the need to give himself grace when he does return, knowing he won\u2019t have to play as many as 30 minutes or go as hard as possible from the get go.<\/p>\n

But he believes, after going through some recent limited contact work, his return is near as he continues to ramp up in practice ahead of the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that I got to start that process is great,\u201d Suggs said. \u201cI need a couple more chances and then I\u2019m ready to get it rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Originally Published: October 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday marked 264 days since Jalen Suggs suited up to take the court in an NBA game. That\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-9516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-magic","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9516","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=9516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}