With about a minute to play in the third quarter, Jalen Suggs tried to split the double team and get inside the Chicago Bulls' paint.
He got to the rim and took a hard foul from Jalen Smith, collapsing to the floor. Only Smith followed him to the court, landing on his right leg in a happenstance random injury that only felt like piling on a season already filled with so many injuries.
The hard-nosed Suggs immediately slid away from the play, writhing a bit in pain. He gingerly got up to take his free throws. It was clear going to the other end of the court that he was laboring and struggling to move in any fashion.
The Magic took him out of the game, and he sat the entire fourth quarter as the Magic's offense and defense collapsed in a 121-114 loss.
Just after getting Suggs back from a two-week absence with a left hip contusion, Suggs has now suffered a Grade 1 MCL contusion in his right knee. He appears set to miss several weeks -- and keep the Magic from seeing their complete picture for the first time since early November.
For a Magic team desperate to have its heart and soul present, this was a gutting injury. The Magic remain frustrated to be without such a key player for so long.
"It's beyond frustrating," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday's loss. "He fights his tail to get back with us. For him to keep fighting and stepping on the court is what we're going to continue to need from him."
The Magic know how much they need Suggs.
Orlando is undoubtedly at its best with Suggs available to play. He gives the team an intensity and an edge that lifts everyone up. The stats support how good he can be.
But if Suggs is constantly injured, how reliable can he be?
With Anthony Black emerging as a more reliable scoring option in the past few weeks, the Magic may be forced to make a difficult decision regarding Suggs as they plot how to move forward and become a championship team.
Relying on Suggs and his injury history has left a lot of people feeling uneasy. And it might force a decision sooner than later as the Magic navigate the aprons and try to build into a championship team.
Suggs' importance
For now, it is clear how vital Jalen Suggs is to this team and their chances for success. That has been the case for several years and certainly since the team became a perennial Playoff team.
This year, Suggs is averaging 15.0 points per game and 4.7 assists per game. He has struggled with his shot at 33.1 percent overall from three. But Suggs is hitting 41.6 percent on catch-and-shoot threes.
In many ways, he is the perfect complementary player for the Magic's heavy-driving offense as a kickout option.
Suggs' biggest value is on defense, of course. He plays with tireless energy and seems to lift everyone up with that effort every night.
Orlando has a 106.1 defensive rating with Suggs on the floor, compared to a defensive rating of 113.3 points allowed per 100 possessions overall.
Even in the last two games when Suggs was working his way back from injury, Orlando had a 98.0 defensive rating with Suggs on the floor. The team posted a 111.1 defensive rating in the past two games.
To say the least, Suggs makes a positive impact for the Magic on that end.
He is not merely the head of the snake on defense. He is the team's heartbeat.
"We know how much Jalen loves the game," Anthony Black said after Friday's loss. "You can see it by just how hard he plays and how much passion he plays with. It's tough for him not being able to be out there. We try to be there for him for however long it takes him. We want him to be on the court. But we know he has to take his injury seriously. We'll be there for him and play hard until he gets back.”
For better or for worse, his absence was felt in Friday's fourth quarter. The team faced a bit of that emotional drain of getting Suggs back after two games only to see him go down with an injury yet again.
It has become too much of a familiar story.
Suggs' injury history continues to raise questions
The story of Jalen Suggs' career to this point has unfortunately been his injuries.
He injured his hand in his rookie season, limiting him to 48 games. A knee injury kept him to 53 in his second season in 2023. He played a career-high 75 in the 2024 season as the Magic broke through to the Playoffs as the 5-seed with 47 wins.
Last year, Suggs fought through various ailments before ultimately ending his season after an injury to his knee that required surgery in the offseason. He played only 35 games.
This year, he has played in 23 of the Magic's 35 games, missing seven games with a left hip contusion following the Magic's loss in the NBA Cup semifinal.
But there is a feeling of the team waiting for the day when they will be healthy again. And Suggs has not been reliable on that front.
The quiet part is that the Magic may have a comparable replacement on both ends already on the roster.
In Jalen Suggs' absence, Anthony Black averaged 22.8 points per game and shot 50.0 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from three.
His emergence has helped the Magic stay afloat with Franz Wagner out, Jalen Suggs out and Paolo Banchero working his way back from his groin injury. Black's emergence has the Magic hopeful that they can return to having one of the highest-scoring benches in the league.
It has also given the team some options.
There are long-term considerations to make too.
Black is eligible for an extension this summer. And the Magic are becoming much more expensive. They may get to a point where they must choose between the heart and soul of Suggs and the availability that Black presents.
Unfortunately, that is what these constant injuries have opened up for the Magic. It might be a turning point for the team in its near future.
Suggs will get his chance to prove his durability when he returns. It is just now that the Magic must wait again for him to return to the floor.