Jalen Suggs was brimming with excitement for his return game against the Detroit Pistons in late January.
He had missed three weeks with a back strain, and Suggs is always raring to go. Holding him out of games is usually a problem. He always seems to want to be going.
He certainly plays that way. Suggs is all gas, no brakes. He introduces some element of chaos in everything he does. Suggs is a relentless defensive player and teams hate his pestering ways.
That can get in his way at times. It appears in little injuries, and how Suggs always looks like he is being held together with duct tape and super glue before snapping back to athletic attention and devouring whoever he is assigned to guard.
In this January game, it showed itself in multiple ways. Suggs picked up two fouls in a little more than five minutes in the first half and had four fouls at halftime. He was overeager, giving all that extra energy all at once.
He had five fouls entering the fourth quarter when he, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner stayed in to try to ensure the Magic scored the win. He was part of the run that helped the Magic pull away to score that critical victory.
Suggs has no intention of changing this frenetic energy. He has no intention of changing who he is. But considering this turned out to be his final game, banging knees four minutes to the quarter and leaving with a knee injury before suffering a setback and undergoing season-ending knee surgery about a month later, the question has to be asked:
Does Suggs need to temper himself to give the Magic the energy they need? He does not think so.
"I ain't changing a damn thing," Suggs said at exit interviews. "Yes, you can be smarter and more efficient, I would say. I think you get to overthinking it too much. Changing your approach to the game, it changes who you are. This is the way I've played all my life. As I've grown, I've gotten more mature, smarter. Even this year, I thought my pacing and control was a lot better than last year and throwing my body around and playing at full speed. I feel the changes happening. As far as my approach to the game, that's part of it is making those plays and being in that mindset. That's not going to change, to be honest."
Nobody wants Suggs to lose his personality or character on the floor. This is the risk of a player like him. He injects himself to the game and sacrifices his body to do so at time.
There is certainly a balance Suggs has to reach, and he would seemingly acknowledge. But Suggs will not dial back the intensity and physicality that some think has led to some of his injury issues.
That game against the Pistons showed everything Suggs is about -- his intensity and energy that can change games and disrupt offenses. But also the risk of his style of play. He always seems to be on the verge of a major injury.
Finding balance is as important to Suggs' development as improving his shot and offense.
An injury history
While no one would question Jalen Suggs' heart and what he means to this team, Suggs is facing down the reality that he has had one healthy season in four years. After playing 35 games last year (a career-low), the question has to be asked whether Suggs' breakneck style contributes to any of this.
Suggs struggled with several injuries his rookie year, missing his longest stretch with a broken thumb before an ankle injury limited him to 45 games. His second season, he dealt with a nagging ankle injury that limited him to 53 games.
He hit 75 games during the 2024 season as the Magic made their breakthrough to the Playoffs. It felt like Suggs put those nagging injuries behind him.
Jalen Suggs clearly struggled a bit with the extra role he had to take on following the injuries to Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Suggs averaged a career-high 16.2 points per game last season as he took on that bigger role -- averaging 18.6 points per game with both Banchero and Wagner out.
Suggs' efficiency took a predictable dip, going to 31.4 percent from three after shooting 39.7 percent in the 2024 season. Suggs probably proved he is better as a spot-up shooter and having others set him up than hunting for a shot himself.
The one thing the Orlando Magic did not get to figure out or solve is how Suggs fits into this bigger picture. Suggs' injury cut short the experiment with him at point guard. Orlando has to make a lot of decisions.
But the team also has to take into consideration that his availability could be spotty. As the Magic seek to add some offense, calculating how much they can rely on Suggs is part of the equation.
Still, the Magic do not want Suggs to lose the edge and intensity he brings on defense. Even though Orlando's defense was still among the best in the league after Suggs' injury, it is impossible not to raise your defensive level when Suggs is around.
Getting him healthy again
The concern for now obviously turns to getting him healthy.
Suggs said he anticipates he will be ready for training camp. When he spoke to the media at exit interviews, he said he was in a good place where he was able to move around and test what his body would let him do and get his knee used to movement. Rehab is still a long process.
Suggs said he has been doing a lot of upper-body strengthening to have a baseline when he can return to the court and rebuild his conditioning. There is still a lot of work to do.
The question will be how Suggs looks when he steps back onto the court. And whether he can play with the same breakneck energy he plays with typically.
Suggs has no intention of changing. He will still dive headlong onto the floor and play with the physicality and intensity he has become known for. Maybe he will pick his spots better once he is healthy.
But this is who Suggs is. For better or worse.