Magic's Jonathan Isaac Candid About Recent Lessened Role: 'I Haven't Played Well'

ORLANDO, Fla. – With the Orlando Magic's turbulent regular season winding down, Jonathan Isaac finds himself in unfamiliar territory.

As rotations shorten and the Magic gear up for postseason basketball, the team's longest-tenured feature seemingly finds himself lacking certainty in his share of playing time.

By his own candid, self-critical admission, the context behind why is simple.

"I'm always going to be ready to play and to come in and provide energy," Isaac told reporters in the Magic's postgame locker room Thursday. "I'll just be honest – I haven't played well over the course of the season. Haven't shot it well, haven't played well overall, so I'm not necessarily blaming anybody or mad at anybody else but myself."

That's not dissimilar to what he said near the season's halfway point, when Isaac said he was "weathering the storm" of a roller coaster search for consistency that hadn't yet yielded results.

At the time, he maintained a positive belief that he could turn the tides of his year. Months later though, Isaac is still looking for confidence and answers.

Isaac saw just six minutes in Orlando's loss to Dallas. He didn't enter the game until late in the first half, when Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr. were contending with foul trouble.

Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac played just six minutes in Thursday's loss to the Dallas Mavericks. | Fernando Medina, Getty Images

That continued a recent trend of him playing fewer than 10 minutes in every appearance since March 13. Tuesday night in Charlotte, when Magic coach Jamahl Mosley only went four-deep into his bench on the second night of a back-to-back, Isaac ended the night with a rare DNP-coach's decision.

Less than 12 months ago, Isaac's 2023-24 season earned him Sixth Man of the Year consideration from award voters. Then, Mosley trusted him to start three of the Magic's seven games in the team's first-round playoff series versus Cleveland.

Over the summer, Isaac signed a five-year, $84-million contract extension as part of a renegotiation-and-extend process. The deal rewarded his ability as a game-wrecking forward with the versatility to defend all positions on the floor and upped his contract value to $25 million this year.

Then, he used his first offseason not hampered by injury to put on 30 additional pounds of weight, which he said in training camp helped him to feel "more solid" given his extensive past injury history.

Now, his eighth NBA season – he missed two complete years while hurt – has been among his most available. Isaac has made 64 appearances, trailing only the 75 games played in his second year for the most of his career.

However, little else has gone to plan for Isaac – a phrase that can also accurately describe the Magic's 35-39 season to this point.

He's averaging 5.3 points on 40.4 percent shooting from the field in 15.3 minutes a game. All of those numbers are the second-lowest for his career, and his three-point accuracy is a personal low 26.2 percent.

Per Cleaning the Glass, Orlando is -3.1 points per 100 possessions worse with Isaac on the floor – down from last year's career-best bar set at +9.1 under the same parameters.

But Isaac's individual numbers suggest he still fits the defensive mold Mosley-led teams tout. His 70 total blocks rank 25th in the NBA, but he's the only one in the top 30 with under 1,000 total minutes and one of five in the top 50. Dunks and Threes' +2.3 defensive EPM is 9th-best in the NBA.

And, after playing at least 10 minutes in 50 of his first 53 appearances this season and averaging 16.4 in that span, Isaac's minute share has fallen short of that mark in eight of his last 11 games, in which he's averaging just 10.1.

When asked about Isaac's diminishing role as of late, Mosley attributed the decision to be one rooted in night-to-night matchups.

"What we've talked about in this stretch as a playoff-look, and matchups, and the timing of different rotations ... I think it's going to continue to stay with matchups on any given night," he said Thursday. "That's going to be very important when we come down the stretch."

Isaac was made aware of what to expect when he and Mosley had a transparent conversation about the situation.

"He was just like, 'This is kind of where we're at, and it'll be some back and forth,'" Isaac said. "It is what it is. I get it."

Added Isaac: "Any time I'm out there on the floor is a blessing. I want to play, and so whenever I'm out on the floor, I'm happy. But at the end of the day, I understand. So I just take it one day at a time and continue to work on myself outside of the game to get back to where I've been."

With eight games left in the regular season, little is left to be promised. The Magic have few chances to make drastic alterations as they wrestle for Play-In Tournament seeding.

But the veteran forward is doing his best to keep his head down and his ears perked up for when, or if, his moment comes.

"This is where I'm at, and [I'll] be ready to play when my number is called and provide energy and try to help this team win games."

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