The Orlando Magic want these preseason games to be mundane. They are not supposed to be some monumental event.
They just want to test some things out, allow their players to develop some rhythm and chemistry and get some tape to point out errors and trouble spots. It is merely about building a foundation and trying to carry that over from practice to practice and game to game.
The preseason to this point, has had plenty of all of that. The pessimists have found something to be upset and worried about. The optimists have found things to like. And the truth and reality are somewhere in the middle, hidden likely until Oct. 19 when the games start to count.
Hanging in the background though is what is still missing. And Friday’s 110-105 win over the Dallas Mavericks showed what will still be missing and how delicate everything can be.
That fragility of this season — and the bad luck facing the team as a whole — was bent and stressed in the first quarter.
Jalen Suggs left the Orlando Magic’s preseason game Friday with an apparent knee injury that could leave him out for a while. With injuries piling up already, the fragility of the season is pretty clear.
Jalen Suggs was going to set a screen for Paolo Banchero when he got a slight push from Spencer Dinwiddie from behind and slipped. His left leg planted and hyperextended. He immediately went to the floor clutching the back of his leg. And the worst nightmare of any preseason became true.
A franchise scarred by major knee injuries to two key young players in two of the previous three seasons and saw Suggs miss significant time in his rookie year to various injuries (a broken finger first and then ankle injuries later) felt the walls come crashing down again.
It was all too familiar. The sinking feeling of another season derailed by injuries was seemingly becoming a reality again, killing the baby in the cradle before the games actually started.
For now, Suggs is ruled out with a lower left leg injury. Coach Jamahl Mosley said X-rays came back negative and he will undergo an MRI and further evaluation.
"“He’s worked his tail off and he is going to continue to work his tail off,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday’s game. “That’s what we can depend on for him. We’re just going to continue to see what the evaluation what happens. We’re just hoping for the best for him right now.”"
Everyone will have to wait with bated breath for the final prognosis and the (dreaded) timeline for his return. Even if this ends up being a bone bruise or a sprain, Suggs would likely miss the start of the season.
It is a disappointing moment for a young player who was trying to find some stability and consistency and had a clear pathway to claim a starting spot.
It is disappointing for an entire team eager to do something and grow this year, but still finding themselves struggling to get out of the gate. Another key piece is going to have to sit out and make it harder for the rest of the team to push through.
The Magic are still a team with an incredibly small margin for error. That is evident with the inconsistent defense and offense on display so far during the preseason. The Magic can look great one moment and really bad the next.
So it is not merely that Suggs could miss time. It is that injury on top of Gary Harris being out with a torn meniscus on top of Markelle Fultz being out with a broken toe on top of Jonathan Isaac still recovering from his torn ACL and hamstring surgery.
It is on top of too how Franz Wagner is being managed as he returns to the NBA after EuroBasket — he is healthy but has played in only one of the Magic’s three preseason games.
So much of the Magic’s potential is still getting hidden in the preseason. And a lot of it is locked away on the injured list.
It all adds up to injuries once again being the story for the Magic after two straight years leading the league by far in games lost due to injury.
Injuries are such a major factor for the Magic that general manager John Hammond has said publicly to several outlets that the first concern for this young team is its health. It is hard to make progress without that.
A player’s best ability is availability — never mind whether that player can shoot at this point.
The absences the Magic have had so far have had real effects on this team though.
The offense has struggled to get going consistently without two key playmakers in Wagner and Fultz out of the lineup. While the Magic are surely working on some other things through these preseason games, it remains concerning how slow the offense has looked and how inconsistent it has looked without these players on the ball or helping create space or be a threat.
The Magic have a lot of uncertainty too and being so injured to start the year not only cuts into the team’s depth but also slows the growth of several players too.
Markelle Fultz and Franz Wagner’s absence not only had the Magic testing out playing Jalen Suggs as the starting point guard or main ball handler, but it has also pushed the Magic to try out Paolo Banchero as a ball handler more.
This is the time to do these experiments. But it is clearly an area he still needs to grow in. And Banchero probably should not be a full-time point guard.
The same was happening with Wagner too in his lone game Thursday.
The schedule goes on though. No team will feel sorry for the Magic. Orlando will have to find its way. Players will have to fill in and step up until Suggs, and the other players, return. A team that believes it has depth has to trust and use that depth.
But the specter of injuries always hangs over this team. And how quickly things can devolve and sink because of them is plainly evident.
It is unfortunately too familiar a story for this team and this franchise. It is something that is holding it back.