Last February, everyone associated with the Orlando Magic felt this rush of excitement.
Markelle Fultz announced on an episode of the Orlando Magic Pod Squad a few days prior that he would return the next Monday against the Indiana Pacers. It was finally happening for the young guard.
The excitement was growing after the All-Star Break that Fultz’s return was imminent. He had been practicing with the team for a few weeks. There was just this final step of getting him onto the court and playing in an actual game.
For Fultz, it was a mere 13 months since he tore his ACL in the largely empty Amway Center during the early parts of the 2021 season. It was another disappointing setback in a career that had been full of too many of them in his career.
But everyone was excited to see Fultz make it all the way back. Players wore his “shirsey” to celebrate. He received a standing ovation when he first entered the court as he acknowledged the crowd.
Then. . . then he wowed the team with an impressive return performance.
Markelle Fultz impressed with his return game last year from a torn ACL. What is in store with Jonathan Isaac’s return tonight against the Boston Celtics?
Fultz did not look like he missed a beat, making an immediate impact and looking comfortable as he fed teammates he had largely never played with before with ease. The Magic won that game easily in an emotional evening for the team.
It did suddenly feel like the team had its future and its point guard in place. At the very least, it felt like the Magic had reclaimed some of their future again after so much of it was taken away.
That same moment is going to happen Monday night against the Boston Celtics. The team will likely walk into the Amway Center wearing Isaac’s No. 1 across their chest in celebration. Isaac will get his standing ovation when he checks into his first NBA game in more than 900 days.
And then, most importantly, Isaac will play. He will step onto the court and play basketball. A simple but important act for him. And from there he will be off to the races through the difficulties and trials of the NBA season.
There will be time to get to that. The focus for this day is on his return. That first important game back.
It is not exactly a harbinger of things to come. But there is definitely more energy and adrenaline in this kind of debut game. Nobody knows quite what to expect from Isaac directly in this one. Nobody knows quite what to expect from him for the rest of this season.
It is probably best to temper expectations though. The Magic’s biggest concern in bringing him back onto the court was the long layoff for him. It is the fact that he has not played in more than two years — and really nearly three years.
His initial showing in the G-League for the Lakeland Magic was impressive enough. He averaged 15.7 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game in that three-game run.
But the NBA is a different animal.
So what can the Magic expect from Isaac in his return? Perhaps it is best to look at how other players — both in Magic and recent NBA history — looked in their first games back for a clue of how much Isaac can hit the ground running.
How injured players did in their returns
Markelle Fultz
Feb. 28, 2022 vs. Indiana Pacers: 10 points, six assists, 5/7 FGs, 15:55
Nobody really knew what to expect when Markelle Fultz returned to the court last February.
Would that burst return for him? Would he be able to get to the basket at will? What would his vision look like? Would he sync with his teammates?
The answer to all those questions was a resounding yes. From the moment Fultz stepped back onto the court, there was a lift energy-wise for the team. He made those bench units work a whole lot better. And Fultz looked at ease on the court.
He fed difficult passes to Wendell Carter and put them on a dime to him. His teammates were surprised at how he was able to get passes through and there were at least a few misses because they were not ready for the pass.
Fultz too worked well in the tight spaces he was accustomed to. He had the Pacers’ defense off balance in the way Fultz always does.
When his 15 minutes were up and Jamahl Mosley reluctantly brought him to the bench for the final time, it left everyone wanting more. Fultz was just a huge shot of adrenaline to a team that needed a boost as it drifted to the end of a development season.
He proved that way the rest of the season too.
But this return game was a surprising run. Everyone expected some rough spots. But Fultz scored at least 10 points in four of his first five games after he returned. If there was an endorsement for the Magic’s slow-played recovery for him, it was that he was so good so quickly. That it did not feel like he missed 13 months.
That is certainly the hope with Isaac now that he is set to return to the court.
How injured players did in their returns
Grant Hill
Nov. 3, 2004 vs. Milwaukee Bucks: 20 points, 10/21 FG, 32:51
When Grant Hill signed with the Orlando Magic, it was with extreme fanfare. This was the superstar player making the move to Orlando, alongside a young precocious budding star in Tracy McGrady. Even though the team missed out on Tim Duncan, the Magic felt like they had formed their own superteam.
These were two dynamic wings who could define the very weak Eastern Conference for the next seven years — both players signed seven-year contracts.
Magic fans know that never came to fruition. The four years with McGrady never materialized because of the injuries Hill faced.
Hill coming off the plane to sign his contract on crutches nursing an ankle injury suffered in the previous season and played through in the Playoffs with the Detroit Pistons, proved to be a foreshadowing of his time with Orlando.
He and McGrady played fewer than 40 games together. Hill started off fine but played just four games that first season in 2001. He came back to play just 14 the following year and then 29 the next year before he missed the entire 2004 season.
McGrady lost patience waiting and asked for a trade as the Magic began to rebuild.
That is when Grant Hill actually came back, paired with Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and a rookie Dwight Howard, and he actually looked like a solid player. Although certainly not the spectacular player he was before the injury.
That first year back, Hill averaged 19.7 points per game on 50.9 percent shooting. He appeared in 69 games.
The first of those games was the season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks — a game that ended with Steve Francis hitting a buzzer-beating layup to send the TD Waterhouse Centre into hysterics.
Hill had a strong showing in that game. He scored 20 points on 10-for-21 shooting. The only mark against him was four turnovers. But he had played so little, who could blame him for a few mistakes?
Hill was obviously a bigger star and someone who could score and be methodical. But this was a great first step for him to help a young team stay competitive that season. Hill’s first season back was full of some starts and stops. But he proved he could still be effective as the Magic slowly climbed back into contention.
How injured players did in their returns
Anfernee Hardaway
Feb. 5, 1999 vs. New York Knicks: 12 points, 9 rebounds, 4/14 FG, 40:26
Anfernee Hardaway struggled in the years after Shaquille O’Neal left.
He had a stellar season in 1997 but the toll of carrying his own team was getting to him physically. That 1997 season, the first without O’Neal, saw him play only 59 games. Knee and ankle issues started to take their toll and Hardaway found himself constantly on the injured list.
He played only 19 games in the 1998 season, riding his popularity to a fourth straight All-Star bid. Everyone knew that something was different and off with Hardaway. And the Magic organizationally had to think about its future a bit more.
There was one last hurrah though. The dreaded 1999 lockout-shortened season saw Hardaway play all 50 games. But he was not the same player. Hardaway had slowed a step down.
Hardaway averaged 15.8 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game and 5.3 assists per game that season. They were still good numbers but hardly the dynamic player he was. Not to mention everyone showed up out of shape following the lockout — NBA culture is very very different now as evidenced by a better lockout-shortened season in 2012.
Hardaway’s first game, the season debut in February in Orlando against the New York Knicks, saw some of the flashes of what made him a dynamic All-Star before his injury but also how much he and the league slowed down.
Hardaway scored 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting with just nine rebounds. It was a rough and rusty game. That may have had to do both with his own layoff but also the lockout layoff.
Hardaway would score at least 20 points in his next four games to open the season, including a 28-point effort against the Boston Celtics in the third game of that 50-game season. Hardaway would get two 30-point games in April. So he eventually did find himself despite the rough return.
How injured players did in their returns
Other Returns
Klay Thompson: Jan. 9, 2022 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers – 17 points, 7/18 FG
The closest comparison we might have to Jonathan Isaac’s long layoff is the long layoff Klay Thompson had after tearing his own ACL and then rupturing his Achilles on the precipice of his return.
Thompson put in a heroic effort in the 2019 NBA Finals before he tore his ACL. He was set to return before the 2021 season when tragedy struck and he ruptured his Achilles forcing him to miss another year.
Thompson returned in 2022 and slowly got back into form. He at least had one skill that could come back quickly — his shooting. And that was what stood out in this game and his early run with the Warriors.
Thompson made only 7 of 18 field goals and 3 of 8 3-pointers. But that was more than enough to make a lot of impact and boost his team. He brought that presence and skill immediately to his team.
As Thompson would probably say, he is still getting his legs back a year after his return. He is averaging 20.6 points per game and shooting 38.9 percent from beyond the arc this year. It just shows how quickly a player can get back.
Kevin Durant: Dec. 22, 2021 vs. Golden State — 22 points, 7/16 FGs
Kevin Durant has been one of the many players around the league who have praised Jonathan Isaac when he was on the floor. One of the many players who recognizes his game and wants to highlight his potential.
That was all before the injury. But Durant is a good player to look at too even if he is more offensively minded than Isaac — and had a different injury than Isaac.
Isaac, and several other big ball-handling forwards, always cite Durant as a model for their game. They want to be Durant and he represents the wave of unicorn-ish big guards essentially.
Durant gave the Golden State Warriors a double dose of trouble, rupturing his Achilles in the 2019 Finals against the Toronto Raptors. He then left for the Brooklyn Nets and sat out the 2021 season.
When he returned with Brooklyn in December 2021, nobody knew what to expect. Achilles injuries became the new ACL injury — potentially career-ending and certainly career-altering.
Durant has been part of redefining what players can do after Achilles injuries. He averaged 26.9 points per game and shot 53.7 percent from the floor that first year back. And he has only gotten better since then.
Durant had an impressive debut. He scored 22 points on 7-for-16 shooting. That is about as pedestrian a game as Durant could have. At least by today’s standards.
But he looked comfortable and ready to go. And he has not stopped since.
There is no reason to think that with some time, Isaac will be able to get back to his pre-injury levels. And judging by some of these returns, it might come quicker than you think.