LAS VEGAS (AP) — Orlando guard Jalen Suggs left the arena aided by a wheelchair on Saturday night after an NBA Cup semifinal loss to New York, and the already short-handed Magic will now wait to learn the severity of his left hip injury.
Suggs was shaken up when he was fouled and landed on the hip late in the second quarter but played on until the fourth quarter. He eventually left the game and headed to the locker room for the final minutes of Orlando's 132-120 loss to the New York Knicks.
Suggs finished with 26 points — 25 coming in the first half. The wheelchair usage was a precaution, largely just to keep Suggs from taking an extended walk to the bus that would carry the Magic back to their hotel. But the hip is clearly cause for some concern.
“We’re going to look at it when we get back,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “At the end of the day, he’s a warrior for being out there and dealing what he’s dealing with. I think we’ll evaluate him when we get back home and see where he is with it.”
The good news for Orlando — which is flying home on Sunday — is that it doesn't play again until Thursday when it opens a four-game trip in Denver. The bad news is that the Magic are already without brothers Franz Wagner and Moritz Wagner; Franz has a high ankle sprain, Moritz is still recovering from an ACL tear suffered last season.
To lose Suggs for any amount of time would be another blow for a team that's had no shortage of injury issues over the last couple seasons.
“He’s been battling through some pain the last few games,” Magic forward Paolo Banchero said. “He’s just been giving it his all for the team and kind of playing through it. So you hope it’s not too bad, whatever injury it is. You don’t want to lose him. But he gave us a great effort in that first half.”
Suggs was limited to 35 games last season with injuries.
“We know who he is and what he’s about,” Orlando's Desmond Bane said. “He wants to win more than anything. He laid it all on the line for us.”
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