The Ringer: How the Jalen Suggs Revival Has Elevated the Magic

[Knightro]

How the Jalen Suggs Revival Has Elevated the Magic

After two disappointing, injury-plagued seasons, Suggs has found his niche on one of the most promising young teams in the NBA. “He wears his emotion and his heart on his sleeve,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley says. “That’s why this group is the way it is.”

One day in early October, during Orlando Magic training camp, Jalen Suggs and his teammates held what can loosely be described as a circle of trust. Players took turns sharing what they wanted from each other, the type of exchange that’s pointless if not grounded in authenticity. Honesty is essential.

For Suggs, entering his third NBA season, the exercise was as straightforward as it was significant. Independently, he had resolved to become one of the best defenders in the league. And when his teammates told him that’s exactly what they sought from him, too, Suggs promised them it’d happen.

“Everybody said that that was something they needed from me,” Suggs tells me. “Without hesitation, I’ll do anything the boys ask me to do. I’ll try my hardest to get it done. I knew it would lead to good things for us … taking on that challenge. And I know it’s hard, but it’s a privilege that they … believe in me.”

Translated: For the Magic to be the best version of themselves, they needed Suggs to embrace a set of self-effacing responsibilities and dismount from the more prominent seat Orlando originally saved for him. Circumstances had shifted dramatically since Suggs was selected fifth overall in the 2021 draft. In that time, he endured a string of nagging injuries and struggled to find any consistency. Meanwhile, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner emerged as a pair of traditional wing cornerstones that Orlando’s front office was eager to build around.

Given how Suggs’s first two years went, expectations were low but stakes were high coming into the 2023-24 season. The Magic were finally ready to take a step forward, but first they had to answer the pressing internal question of who best fits around their impressive young forward duo—especially in the backcourt. The franchise already signed Cole Anthony to a long-term extension, traded for Markelle Fultz, and had just drafted Anthony Black. Any 22-year-old with Suggs’s talent, upside, explosiveness, and two-way dedication can be plenty useful, but his fit on this roster was unclear.

“I felt myself going left. I think that if I continued where I was going into this year it would have been extremely hard to get off that path.” —Jalen Suggs

Fast-forward to mid-December, and Suggs is averaging 12.5 points and 2.5 assists as Orlando’s starting point guard. The typical reaction to a top-five pick who averages a dozen points in his third season is disappointment. Suggs is not his team’s lead ball handler. He ranks fifth in minutes, shots, and usage rate, and fourth in points per game. That’s not what the Magic envisioned when they drafted him. But these numbers are an increasingly irrelevant way to assess Suggs’s influence on the Magic, off to a 16-9 start despite being the fourth-youngest team in the league.

His task is not glamorous. For someone who was initially expected to be a franchise building block, that downshift has the potential to be uncomfortable. NBA practice facilities are packed with ego and ambition, and sometimes what’s unsaid tends to fester and cause friction. The Magic are lucky, though, that in this situation, with this core, none of that happened.

Instead, Suggs has excelled as the adrenalized pulse of what’s become the NBA’s most pleasant surprise, a team that couldn’t operate the same way without him, nor would it want to.

“He wears his emotion and his heart on his sleeve,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley told me. “He’s pure. There’s so much love there. That’s why this group is the way it is. Because he is how he is.”

Suggs’s career pretty much started with an injury, when a sprained left thumb cut his Las Vegas summer league stint short. Then, in late November of his rookie season, he fractured his right thumb against the Sixers, which sidelined him for six weeks; a couple of months later, Suggs sprained his ankle and suffered a bone bruise that forced him out another three weeks. In May, he had surgery to repair a fracture in the same ankle.

During his second preseason, Suggs was carried off the court after he sprained his knee. He managed to return in time for Orlando’s regular-season opener, but then almost immediately suffered another ankle injury that wound up plaguing his sophomore campaign. In all, Suggs missed 63 games in his first two years, suggesting that his frantic, feral playing style when healthy may be at odds with the rigors of a full season. “It was hard to find a rhythm,” he tells me, reflecting on those first two years. “Just constantly coming in and out of lineups … playing injured, playing hurt, and that’s part of it.”

(Earlier this month, Suggs landed wrong on his ankle in a loss against the Cavaliers but missed only one game; a few days later, he had to play with cast on his left wrist after a hard fall on his hand in Boston.)

Even when he was healthy, Suggs couldn’t establish himself as an efficient scoring option anywhere on the court, be it in the paint or from behind the arc. Of all NBA players who attempted at least 300 3s in their first two years, Suggs owns the fourth-lowest percentage. Adapting to the speed of the pro game was also a major struggle at first. Suggs’s decision-making was overzealous. He forced shots and committed a ton of turnovers. That’s all a natural part of getting handed the keys as a 20-year-old, though, and Suggs cleaned up some of his mistakes in his second season. But still, Mosley eventually replaced him with Gary Harris in the starting lineup, clouding Suggs’s long-term outlook in an organization that was experimenting with more stable options in their backcourt.

All those setbacks gave birth to an existential realization. Suggs wasn’t happy, coming off two years that were blemished by health issues, rehab, and frustrating on-court results. “I felt myself going left,” he says, when asked about his mentality heading into last summer. “I think that if I continued where I was going into this year it would have been extremely hard to get off that path.

“There are some journeys that you just kind of have to go through yourself, without family, without friends, without a partner. That was something that I decided to fully dive into, so I could be my best self for my family, for my teammates, for the city of Orlando.”

Suggs knew he had to concede on the court. But before that was possible, he needed to reset how he saw himself outside the sport. He didn’t spend the summer working on his game; for the first time since his senior year of high school, Suggs didn’t touch a basketball for an entire month. Instead, through introspection and soul-searching, he reimagined the type of person he wants to be.

“I stripped my identity away from basketball. It allowed this to be a sport again, to be something, a hobby that I love to do and that feeds my competitive side, and I just let it be that,” he says. “It wasn’t who I was. Being an NBA player wasn’t who Jalen Suggs was. I didn’t like that, and I was headed that way. … I think it just took a lot of, not only pressure off of the game, but I had a whole new level of confidence because I knew as a man … I was a son, brother, nephew, and that’s where my identity lies.”

READ MORE (31 more paragraphs!) - https://www.theringer.com/nba/2023/12/20/24008243/jalen-suggs-orlando-magic-revival-defense

[VFX]

Knew this kid was going to be good. I think we selected the right Jalen out of that draft.

[eyriq]

Marcus Smart with floor spacing. Dayuum

Interesting that he felt his career was going off the rails. I'd agree, he was becoming a second thought and the team drafted two guards.

Ironic that by letting go of his need to be a star he's put himself back on track. If he gets above 30 mpg stardom is well within reach.

[Bensational]

“The biggest thing is my confidence and belief in my work. I think I didn’t have it because I wasn’t putting a substantial amount in and it was really showing. But from everything that I did this summer, physically in the weight room, tough workouts, pushing myself to exhaustion, throwing up in workouts, almost in tears,” he says. “Pushing myself to that limit to try and make this season easier, and it did, man … before it felt like games started to feel like those workouts. And [then] they started to feel easier than those workouts. And I think when you can get to that point, that’s when you really start to make improvements.”

I love hearing about progress like this: how and when things start slowing down for guys. What leads to the shift.

For a young team, I think we’ve been pretty blessed to have collected a bunch of guys with professionalism and dedication beyond their years and Suggs is embodying that.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Great read. Cheering for Jalen!!!

[richi_v25]

I went from yay Suggs to oh no Suggs to yay Suggs again lol. He's definitely our workhorse and it's a joy to see his 3's starting to fall in.

[CZ Eddie]

I love Suggs but he's got to slow it down from a 14 to a 9.5 and stop hurting his body all the time.

[Knightro]

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[Message Boar]

Totally missed this as it dropped right as I went off on vacation.

Wouldn't have read if not for this thread, despite visiting the Ringer regularly; thanks for the post (and the bump)!

[Knightro]

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[cedric76]

Core player

I love 2 way players

[Knightro]

Jalen Suggs is 16-28 from 3PT in three January games.

Now .391 for the season

[Skybox]

Great article...except for "starting PG". Does anybody agree that that's the case. CAN we just call him PG and look for a shooting guard that can shoot. IDK that Suggs can handle the role of offensive initiator and maybe, given his incredible defensive effort, shouldn't be asked to anyway. IF he were really a competent ballhandling offensive initiator (we don't need a Chris Paul with our frontcourt) and could still be a DPOY level defender AND volcano going to the rim AND shoot 3's reliably...that's an All-Star. Just not sure that's a clear picture other than one night every couple of weeks.

When he's good, he's amazing. Heart of the team and seems to relish ripping the heart out of opponents. Savage.

[Skybox]

If 2/3 of last night's Suggs was available every night, we kill PHO.

His intensity is what's so fun every night but also what scares me about his ability to find more consistency. I hope he can find the right equilibrium point to contribute reliably, make good decisions every night and sustain his body. I DONT want him to pump the brakes at all, just control the fire.

[magik9113]

Yea during our slump we've been missing this Jalen Suggs. Last night's shooting was huge, but he's not going to make 5-7 threes normally. But he can normally provide elite defense and heart/hussle. When he's locked in like that defensively, we alomst never lose

[Residual-Heat]

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He's just a really passionate and emotional guy trying to keep his feelings under control i think. Cant forget that he's still 22.

Was nice to hear Paolo post game he said something like "i always remind Suggs that he is Jalen Suggs, he's a dawg and needs to continue shooting and playing his game" then in Suggs' post game interview he was like "i always tell Paolo he's a killer and to go out there and get the win". Im paraphrasing, but this team is great in the way they lift each other up.

[fendilim]

Forgot the podcast, but i remember the story that Jalen was referred to by a scout as one of the best players having leadership qualities who has joined team USA practice. So this is pre-NBA.

Still not bad. This guy plays with lots of passion

[otownflava21]

Jalen Suggs is averaging .391% from 3 on 5.2 3PT attempts a game 25 games into the season.

Who woulda thunk it before the season started???

[Residual-Heat]

Jalen Suggs is averaging .391% from 3 on 5.2 3PT attempts a game 25 games into the season.

Who woulda thunk it before the season started???

If he keeps this up it has to be the greatest 3pt% improvement ive ever seen. To improve that much, that quickly.. Other than Lonzo Ball, i cant think of anyone that compares.

[VFX]

locked up in PRISON

New nickname is Jailin Suggs when he has games with defense like this.

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