Magic's Jalen Suggs Expects to be Ready for 2025-26, but For Now, Progress Comes Slow

ORLANDO, Fla. – Since last season's first-round playoff series came to an end, this April and May have been circled on Jalen Suggs' calendar.

Though as the Orlando Magic clinched the No. 7 seed and won the Southeast Division title with a win over the Celtics Wednesday, all Orlando's usual starting guard could do was watch.

Suggs, who played just three games in 2025, had successful arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose fragment of trochlea cartilage in his left knee in early March, bringing the fourth-year guard's season to a premature end and eliminating his chance to play in the postseason. The procedure also involved a mosaicplasty – a transplant of tissue taken from a less-demanding area of the knee to cover a cartilage defect in a more important area – to repair the joint.

The Magic said he's expected to make a full recovery, and Suggs told locker room reporters Wednesday that he plans to be ready for the 2025-26 season.

For now, though, Suggs is only focused on getting through each day.

"Progress is slow, and it's one of those things you can't really speed up," Suggs said prior to the Magic's win Wednesday. "[I'm] taking each day as it comes, physically and mentally, just trying to be fully present with it, but I'm doing good. I'm in a good space."

Suggs' physical playstyle has him no stranger to nicks and bruises. Yet, this injury is different because of the challenges brought on by many new firsts.

It was the first one to require surgery since a slight stress fracture in his right ankle called for a post-season procedure after his rookie year. This is also the first major knee injury he's dealt with in his career.

However, perhaps the toughest pill for Suggs to swallow is that, for the first time since his arrival in Orlando, the Magic will participate in the postseason without him.

"Especially after coming off the series last year, I was so much looking forward to, all summer and all season, getting back to this point in the year," Suggs said. "This time being when I have to sit out has been pretty challenging, but it's just a challenge I have to take head-on. I can't really do anything else about it."

This wasn't the initial timeline Suggs had in mind. After exiting the Magic's Jan. 25 win over Detroit with a later-diagnosed left quad contusion, he experienced discomfort during a ramp-up workout before Orlando's Feb. 25 home game versus Cleveland. The setback caused him to get additional evaluation and imaging, which revealed a trochlea cartilage injury.

At the time, he and the Magic were assessing all possible treatment plans: rest, physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medicines, or the arthroscopic surgery to remove the fragment of cartilage they eventually opted for.

Still, as of March 1 this year, Suggs told reporters his goal was to "come back and play and help impact as we get to the postseason and get into the playoffs." Suggs' timeline, in that moment, was aligned with achieving that goal, he said.

While arthroscopic surgery is a commonality in the NBA, the mosaicplasty Suggs also underwent is not. In October, Chicago's Lonzo Ball became the first player in league history to undergo a cartilage transplant and return to the court. He'd been out of action since January 2022, and received a meniscus transplant in March 2023 after several previous procedures failed to fix his left knee.

By taking on the full procedure, Suggs knew his chances to return this season were gone.

"It was hard," Suggs said. "I had learned about the first operation quick, and just myself, the nature of who I am and the emotion that was tied into the point in the year that we were at, [returning] was all that I was thinking about."

But over the next two days, Suggs talked to as many people in his circle as possible – doctors, family, his agent, his coaches and teammates, as well as leaning on his faith – to determine the best course of action. Ultimately, Suggs hopes by undergoing both procedures now, he’s getting ahead of further issues.

"It was just a tough realization, especially from surgery day until about that first week and a half, just accepting the reality that this was where I was at and this was where I was going to be for the next six months," Suggs said. "It's not one of those things where the end goal is close [and] you can see the light. You've almost got to just take it a day at a time and kind of put out short goals, short checkpoints, and reach those until time quickly passes.

"If we would've gone about it quickly and tried to speed it up, [I] probably would've had to get it done regardless," he explained. "[I] didn't want to miss any of next year and hinder even more of what we had going on, so just tried to make the best decision possible for everybody – not just short-term, for myself or the team, but as a collective."

Suggs' on-court presence around Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and the rest of the Magic is missed sorely. He was averaging 16.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists before injury, but his 35 appearances this season will stand as the fewest in a single season during his pro career thus far.

Banchero, one of the teammates Suggs specifically noted he had a lengthy conversation with about his season-ending surgery decision, told Andscape in February that Orlando will never be as good as it can be without Suggs playing.

Together, the trio of Banchero, Wagner and Suggs played just six games together (they won four). Orlando was 20-15 in Suggs' limited number of games this year, and it is 20-25 in all other games.

A little more than a month post-operation, Suggs has started to be back around the Magic and the team's facilities more often. Although it's not in the capacity they wished for, it's been an undeniable plus.

"It always gives a big boost when him or Moe (Wagner) are back in the building and being vocal in team meetings and stuff like that," Franz Wagner told locker room reporters Wednesday. "We need them, man. Obviously we're missing them on the court, so I think it's really important for them to stay engaged."

Added Wagner: "We feel that we're here as one, and we're playing for them as well."

The support from teammates has helped "a ton," Suggs said.

"They've checked in on me every time I've come back around," Suggs said. "They've showed all love ... These are my brothers. That's been the hardest part: not being out there with them. But I'm here with them, they've been here with me throughout my process, and that's why I love them."

And, Suggs was back on the bench for the first time Tuesday night – just in time to see his brothers beat Atlanta to place one hand on the No. 7 seed and division title it secured a night later.

"It felt so good," Suggs said. "I was so happy to be back."

That feeling was mutual.

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