After the 2021 season, the Orlando Magic were looking forward to a healthier season for the 2022 campaign. Surely the team would not have the extreme injury bad luck they had the year before. And there was always the knowledge they would be getting two key players back from major injuries that cost them almost the entire 2021 season.
There was hope the Magic would be semi-competitive as the team would get healthy.
Jonathan Isaac stated if it were up to him, he would be playing opening night, and general manager John Hammond suggested Markelle Fultz may be ready by opening night, signaling they would return early in the season.
That turned out to be premature or reading too much into comments before any decisions were made.
That optimism from before the season quickly gave way to the frustration of not being in the know as Isaac and Fultz continued to rehab and recover behind closed doors.
That was probably the high point of the season so far when it came to optimism about the team’s health. The team has only faced more adversity and more injuries since then adding to the frustration as the team gets further depleted and faces an uphill climb.
The Orlando Magic are facing another injury-riddled season that has made it difficult for the team to achieve their early goals and progress as a team.
The hope of a fast start has quickly faded. The Magic have a league-worst 4-18 record and are standing on their last leg.
Orlando has lost by far the most games to injury this season, lapping the field with four players who have missed every game so far. The Magic are again playing with one hand tied behind their back even as they focus on rebuilding and development more than winning.
The latest indignity was Jalen Suggs’ fractured thumb suffered in Monday’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. That will keep the young guard out for at least two weeks and likely longer. the only good news that came from the aftermath was the news he will not require surgery.
🚨 INJURY UPDATE:@OrlandoMagic guard @jalensuggs will not need surgery; will be re-evaluated every two weeks#MagicTogether https://t.co/A3JDXLPU0h
— Orlando Magic PR (@Magic_PR) December 1, 2021
The only relief that seems to have come is the imminent return of Cole Anthony after a six-game absence with a sprained right ankle.
Anthony finally was left off the injury report and is on track to return in Wednesday’s game against the Denver Nuggets.
The team is desperate for the offensive push Anthony can give the team after scoring only 95.7 points per 100 possessions in the six games he has missed during this stretch.
Just having some healthy bodies would go a long way to helping this team figure out who they are. Indeed, it is hard even to tell what kind of style the Magic are chasing with all the injuries they have faced so far.
From the start, the injuries started to pile up with Michael Carter-Williams having surgery on his left ankle that had him miss training camp. Then Chuma Okeke and E’Twaun Moore faced injuries during training camp that had them miss the start of the season. Okeke has recently returned to the lineup, but Moore has yet to play this season. And Moore was supposed to be the emergency ball-handler because of Carter-Williams’ absence.
Players have missed several games here and there too. Orlando has rarely had its full complement of even the team’s regularly available players.
Gary Harris was slated to be the starter for the season opener but was a late scratch from the lineup against the San Antonio Spurs. He missed the first three games of the season.
Terrence Ross and Mo Bamba have also missed time with back spasms recently. Nagging injuries could explain why both Ross and Harris have found themselves struggling to start the season with a few games of exceptions.
Anthony’s sprained ankle came at an inopportune time — following a 1-1 trip to New York that included a huge win over the New York Knicks. It was clear the Magic struggled immensely without Anthony on the court, which included a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, where the Magic found themselves down more than 50 points.
Suggs’ injury has come at an even worse time. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks but will likely miss at least a month.
This at a time where the game was slowing down for Suggs, and he was stringing together good play, the Magic can not catch a break. It is a frustrating pause for the young guard.
The injury comes at a critical time in the Magic’s schedule. The games do not stop and the team is set to head out to California for a five-game road trip that starts against the Houston Rockets on Friday.
These injuries have only added to the long-term injuries for Fultz and Isaac. They have yet to return even as Fultz nears a year since his surgery.
Fultz seems to be closer to returning than Isaac as he is participating in 2-on-2 drills and is slated to practice with the Lakeland Magic. While this is a positive for Fultz, it does seem concerning for Isaac, considering Isaac suffered his own torn ACL five months before Fultz.
All of these injuries combined with the unknown of Fultz and Isaac is quickly turning the developmental 2022 season into another injury-riddled wasted year.
This was going to be the season the Magic were going to develop their young core. Instead, the Magic are facing familiar situations of the 2018 and 2021 seasons where the Magic were decimated with injuries and could not reach even their modest goals.
On the bright side, it is still early in the year. They still have time to get everyone back and finally start the developmental season they planned for.
Young players have a hard time developing in blowout losses and inconsistent playing groups, both of which the Magic are facing.
The Magic can still salvage their season. But they need to start catching breaks and getting bodies back sooner rather than later.