The Orlando Magic may have a key participant again for the beginning of the 2022-23 season.
Second-year guard Jalen Suggs will likely be obtainable for the season opener towards the Pistons on Wednesday in Detroit, coach Jamahl Mosley instructed reporters after Sunday’s follow.
Suggs, the No. 5 choose in final 12 months’s draft, had been sidelined since struggling a left knee capsule sprain and bone bruise in the course of the Magic’s preseason win over the Dallas Mavericks on Oct. 7 — an damage that at the beginning appeared worse.
“I understood what it was,” Suggs stated Sunday. “I had carried out this very same factor earlier than and understood what I needed to do to get again. It feels good, I don’t like lacking time, I don’t need to miss time. We’re feeling good and enjoying good, and I need to be of help with that. Now it’s specializing in Wednesday and getting this 12 months began proper.”
Added Suggs: “I do know my physique. … We had been capable of have an excellent dialog about how I went about [rehabbing the injury] the final time. We had been capable of come to an excellent medium floor — they listened to me, and I listened to them.”
The Magic closed out the preseason at 4-1 with residence wins over the Memphis Grizzlies and the Cleveland Cavaliers final week.
Mosley stated Suggs practiced after being restricted to capturing the primary couple of days after the damage. Suggs stated he was eyeing a return for Friday’s preseason recreation with Cleveland however didn’t get cleared in time.
“They wanted to see I might shield myself, that I might play and be helpful out on the court docket,” he stated. “There’s no level in going again if I’m not capable of do the issues I would like and need to do.”
Suggs credited the teaching workers for serving to him preserve a optimistic mindset whereas sidelined.
“The primary two days had been actually irritating,” he stated. “Me, Mose, [assistant coach] Jesse [Mermuys] and [assistant coach] Nate [Tibbetts], all of us talked. The principle factor was: Don’t drift into that house the place you get right into a destructive mindset. Proceed to remain optimistic whether or not you’re out for every week or for nonetheless lengthy. That’s what I attempted to do.”
Moe Wagner, who exited Friday within the second quarter after spraining his proper ankle, was seen carrying a boot and didn’t follow Sunday.
His standing for Wednesday hasn’t been decided.
“He’s nonetheless within the analysis course of,” Mosley stated. “The rationale why we don’t give timetables is due to that cause — you don’t know precisely what’s going to occur. Much like Jalen being out, that’s why we attempt to say there’s no timetable to what we’re doing.”
This text first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Electronic mail Khobi Worth at khprice@orlandosentinel.com or comply with him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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