Magic's Jalen Suggs Still in Non-Contact Phase of Quad Injury Recovery

ORLANDO, Fla. — Despite his doubtful listing for Saturday night's game with the San Antonio Spurs, Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs was present at the team's morning shootaround.

Suggs, sporting KT tape on his left leg, went through an individual workout after the team's session concluded. Magic coach Jamahl Mosley gave the latest update on his fourth-year guard's status.

"He's doing on-court work a little bit, but non-contact still," Mosley said. "So I think just finding and figuring out how he responds to treatment, how his body adjusts to it, and what he's capable of doing."

Suggs was later downgraded to out.

It was the seventh straight game he missed with a left quad contusion that he picked up in Orlando's Jan. 25 win over Detroit. In that game, he was returning from a three-week absence because of a lower back sprain.

The Magic rarely give exact timelines on when a player dealing with injury should be expected back on the court. Counting the Spurs Saturday night, Orlando has three games at home before the All-Star break.

After being ruled out, Mosley was asked if the goal was for Suggs to return before the All-Star break and how important that could be: "It's very important. But I also think that you gotta understand exactly what's going on with his body and how he responds to the treatment. If it's in our perfect world, you want him out there. But ultimately, you have to respect what he's going through, how medical see[s] it fit for him to be able to play as well as the long term. I think that's very important as well."

The Magic are 5-13 without Suggs. All 13 losses have come in this stretch of 17 games.

His status on Orlando's injury reports has fluctuated. For the first three games, Suggs was listed as questionable before being downgraded to out. The past four, however, he's been listed as doubtful.

When asked if Suggs' healing process is taking longer than expected, Mosley noted the "extremely tricky" nature of the injury.

"Everybody's body is different, so they respond to things differently," Mosley said. "So yeah, it's tricky. It's extremely tricky.

"You’d like to say that it’s going to work this way one day and then [it] responds differently another day. We have to adjust. That’s part of life, part of the game, part of what we do as coaches. You have to adjust to whatever you’re given and whatever is put on your plate."

Those adjustments because of injury have overrun a large portion of the Magic's season.

Torn right obliques forced a 34-game absence for Paolo Banchero and a 20-game stint on the sideline for Franz Wagner. If Suggs doesn't go Saturday night against San Antonio, it will be his 19th game missed.

Magic players have missed 166 games because of injury or illness, and the Magic have deployed 21 different starting lineups.

At 25-28 in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, Orlando is gearing up for a playoff push, ideally with Suggs at the point.

"Our main thing is because we've had guys out for so long ... our ability to get guys back for the long haul is going to be more important," Mosley said, "so we're careful and smart about how we go about it."

Up Next

Orlando hosts San Antonio at 7 p.m. Saturday night in the Kia Center.

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