When is Isaac Returning? Ruled out for the entire 2021-2022 season

[thelead]

I think us trying to explain away the Isaac situation as "tanking" or "overprotectiveness" is again us not acknowledging the severity of the injury. I think it's clear that he suffered some sort of setback. I truly believe that his knee is wrecked.

As much as I don't want to believe it, this amount of recovery time for an ACL injury combined with his long injury history tells me that something pretty catastrophic happened. I'm ready to move on from the situation. There are some really solid frontcourt prospects in this draft and hopefully there is another team out there who'd be willing to take a flier on Isaac if what is said about the injury conditions in his contract are true.

A setback is very possible but it doesn't explain why Fultz isn't back either unless he also had a setback. I tend to believe that they are tanking while having JI focus on strengthening his body and more importantly, his legs.

[thelead]

Dude is gonna walk away from basketball and pump all of his money into growing his church. I can see him on the political scene too- I believe he just signed a book deal with Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire.

Draft JI's replacement this year and let's all move on

I don't get this sentiment. We don't care when athletes are out doing other idiotic things with their time and money.

I don't care what JI is doing outside of basketball. Just get back onto the court once we're done tanking.

[PrimeThyme]

A setback is very possible but it doesn't explain why Fultz isn't back either unless he also had a setback. I tend to believe that they are tanking while having JI focus on strengthening his body and more importantly, his legs.

I'd guarantee Fultz plays this season. In fact, I'd be shocked if he wasn't back after the All-star break. Isaac is going to nearly double Fultz's rehab time by the start of next season with that being the case. It's a completely different situation IMO.

[yoyojw17]

I'm assuming they will hit the court before the season is over. Players behind them have been given their chances to establish themselves and if their recoveries are going well.... then it would be good to see WHAT we have at the end of the day.... and field a team to Evaluate what we need and the direction of the team from this point on.

Assuming that they are healthy... they will prove to bolster our team even if minutes restrictions are in place. They both affect the offensive and defensive ends of the court.... and they will provide that additional depth to the team.

crossing fingers and toes that we get them back... along with RJ hampton.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

I think us trying to explain away the Isaac situation as "tanking" or "overprotectiveness" is again us not acknowledging the severity of the injury. I think it's clear that he suffered some sort of setback. I truly believe that his knee is wrecked.

As much as I don't want to believe it, this amount of recovery time for an ACL injury combined with his long injury history tells me that something pretty catastrophic happened. I'm ready to move on from the situation. There are some really solid frontcourt prospects in this draft and hopefully there is another team out there who'd be willing to take a flier on Isaac if what is said about the injury conditions in his contract are true.

Why is Fultz out? He should have been back by this past December. In fact MCW and Moore should have been back as well.

[Magicfanatic82]

Moore and MCW where here to mentor only. Free paycheck and release when time..
Lopez was probably signed for the same reason but has proven to be a great glue guy, usefull and doesn't mind role.
Fultz and Isaac will play this year, the front office has major decisions to make this off-season. They will want to see what those 2 can bring or if they can be dealt to clear the path for youth/draft prospects.

[Bensational]

Dude is gonna walk away from basketball and pump all of his money into growing his church. I can see him on the political scene too- I believe he just signed a book deal with Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire.

Draft JI's replacement this year and let's all move on

I don't get this sentiment. We don't care when athletes are out doing other idiotic things with their time and money.

I don't care what JI is doing outside of basketball. Just get back onto the court once we're done tanking.

Ha, I hadn’t thought of it like that before. Makes a lot of sense. I definitely take note of political activities and not social/party stuff, but you’re right, neither are relevant to me and the game.

[RookieStar]

Dude is gonna walk away from basketball and pump all of his money into growing his church. I can see him on the political scene too- I believe he just signed a book deal with Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire.

Draft JI's replacement this year and let's all move on

I don't get this sentiment. We don't care when athletes are out doing other idiotic things with their time and money.

I don't care what JI is doing outside of basketball. Just get back onto the court once we're done tanking.

Ha, I hadn’t thought of it like that before. Makes a lot of sense. I definitely take note of political activities and not social/party stuff, but you’re right, neither are relevant to me and the game.

I agree. dOubly so for us non-American Magic fans who doesn't care or a litttle clueless about the so-called left/right/democrat/republican/kkk/blm/ antifa/sjw-flavor of the month topic.

We care about Magic basketball and the players what they do on the court.

[Skin]

Talk smack all you want. Isaac is still carries the highest trade value of anyone on the Magic's roster.

[richi_v25]

Would be nice if both came out and played 5 minutes before the all star break but that's just wishful thinking.

[thelead]

Talk smack all you want. Isaac is still carries the highest trade value of anyone on the Magic's roster.

Nah… that’s Franz’ crown now but JI, when healthy, is pretty close.

[p0peye]

At the moment Isaac has no trade value as he will not clear medical and at this point it might well be questionable if he ever will be able to.

[Magic_Kingdom]

Dude is gonna walk away from basketball and pump all of his money into growing his church. I can see him on the political scene too- I believe he just signed a book deal with Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire.

Draft JI's replacement this year and let's all move on

I don't get this sentiment. We don't care when athletes are out doing other idiotic things with their time and money.

I don't care what JI is doing outside of basketball. Just get back onto the court once we're done tanking.

If he was playing and busting a** on the court I don't think people would care what he was doing off the court. It's that the off-the-court stuff is *all* he does.

[Def Swami]

Talk smack all you want. Isaac is still carries the highest trade value of anyone on the Magic's roster.

Nope.

[MartinsIzAfraud]

Talk smack all you want. Isaac is still carries the highest trade value of anyone on the Magic's roster.

It’s not talking smack when a dude has missed 18 months and there’s been minimal explanation as to why. Magic wouldn’t have put an Exhibit 3 flag on his contract if they didn’t have worries he’d be broken for good.

[Magic_Kingdom]

I feel like a sucker. I actually thought he was going to be ready for the start of the year. I was excited about his return.

This situation couldn't have been handled any worse. I simply couldn't care less at this point.

There's only two plausible scenarios and neither one are particularly soothing for Magic fans.

1. Isaac had a setback at some point during his rehab and he and the Magic have repeatedly lied about it by denying it.

2. The front office willingly gave a player a 4 year, 70M extension that they either knew was going to miss two full seasons or at the very least were comfortable with the possibility of him missing two full seasons.

I think it's No. 2 and candidly that makes it even worse to me for a few reasons.

The "oh well the money doesn't matter because the Magic are tanking" doesn't really apply because when that contract extension was agreed upon, the Magic still had Vucevic, Fournier, Gordon and Clifford and were actively trying to be competitive and make the playoffs. The front office wouldn't have blown it up last year had they been 22-22 or even 20-24 instead of 15-29 at the deadline.

The Magic could have opted to not give Isaac the extension, extended him a qualifying offer for this season and then resigned him for much less than 4/70 coming off two full years out.

It's just bad business.

Excellent points. It's terrible business. If there was any indication he was going to miss 2 consecutive full seasons, why extend him at all? Extend the qualifying offer to keep him restricted and there's no chance another team signs him to a big offer sheet.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

At the moment Isaac has no trade value as he will not clear medical and at this point it might well be questionable if he ever will be able to.

How did Bol clear medical?

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Dude is gonna walk away from basketball and pump all of his money into growing his church. I can see him on the political scene too- I believe he just signed a book deal with Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire.

Draft JI's replacement this year and let's all move on

I don't get this sentiment. We don't care when athletes are out doing other idiotic things with their time and money.

I don't care what JI is doing outside of basketball. Just get back onto the court once we're done tanking.

If he was playing and busting a** on the court I don't think people would care what he was doing off the court. It's that the off-the-court stuff is *all* he does.

Nope. The off the court stuff is all we know about. We are not told what he actually does in practice by the management. Listening to Franz and Suggs talk about Fultz and Isaac, it seems that Fultz has ramped up in practice but Isaac is not as involved, though he must be at practice.

[Magic_Kingdom]

JI and Fultz are healthy. They're in the gym and at games. We're simply tanking. It's frustrating but I would be doing the same if I were running the team. Fultz and JI coming back this year vs next isn't going to change the outcome of this rebuild. Let's be honest. So as fans, yes it's frustrating but I can't blame Weltman and actually applaud the efforts going into this tank.

I disagree that holding out healthy players to try to lose is something that should be applauded in competitive sports. But that's just a difference in philosophy.

More to the point, I agree Fultz is healthy and ready to go...he's been practicing for more than 2 months. They are clearly holding him out for tanking purposes. But Isaac? He's not even practicing. Which means he's not developing. I just don't think the cost of keeping your best player out of basketball for 2 years is worth the potential benefit of a higher draft pick that you might not even get.

[MasterGMer]

I just wish Isaac can be back this season so we know what we have on hand. So we can make moves and draft players according to our full roster