The Orlando Magic have been decimated by injuries to key players this season, and it looked like they had suffered another blow when Jalen Suggs was forced to leave Friday’s 106-97 win over Toronto in a wheelchair.
It happened as Suggs extended to jump a passing lane late in the second quarter. Nobody made contact with him, which made it even more concerning. He was on the floor for quite a while and in obvious pain before being wheeled off with a towel over his head.
The good news is it appears it was just back spasms, which anyone who has dealt with that can tell you are incredibly painful but hopefully not anything too serious.
“Back spasms is what it is right now,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said after the game. “We’re going to get a better look at him tomorrow.”
Mosley explained that Suggs initially tweaked his back on the offensive end, and then “it just locked up” when he lunged for the ball.
Mosley added that Suggs was in a lot of pain, which was obvious to anyone who watched him writhing on the ground. It was different than a lot of NBA players who make injuries look a lot worse than they actually are with their roll-around-on-the-ground theatrics. Suggs is not one of those guys. This is one tough dude. When you go down like that without getting touched, your body has locked up pretty nastily.
We’ll await official word on the extent of the spasms, if that’s indeed all it turns out to be, and how long, if at all, Suggs might be out. For the Magic’s sake, hopefully he’ll be back in short order. Suggs is having a solid season as one of the top perimeter defenders in the league who is proving he can score the ball, albeit as a pretty inefficient shooter. He had scored at least 24 points in three of his last four games and averaged just under 19 for the month of December.
The Magic have already been without Paolo Banchero for the last two months (he is ramping up for his return), and Franz Wagner for the last month. Both suffered the same injury, a torn oblique. Moe Wagner is also out for the season with a torn ACL. These are significant blows, but give the Magic credit as they have managed to keep their head above water at 21-15, good enough for the East’s No. 4 seed.
