Magic’s Jalen Suggs still not participating in contact work as injury lingers

Tuesday marked one month since Jalen Suggs last stepped foot on the court for live action.

The Magic guard, however, hasn’t played in consecutive contests in nearly two (Jan. 1-3).

Orlando‘s matchup with the Cavaliers on Tuesday was his 13th missed because of a left quad contusion suffered Jan. 25 against the Pistons.

Sitting out 23 of the last 24 games, he previously missed 10 straight due to a low back strain and injured his left leg in his first game back from the strain.

“This is something that takes time,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said at shootaround Tuesday morning when asked if there’s been a setback in Suggs’ recovery.

The All-Defensive guard was only able to participate in some running at shootaround but still did no contact work. Typically, full contact is the precursor to an injured player’s return to game action.

Determining when a player is ready for contact work can be tricky.

“It’s a constant collaboration and constant communication about what’s seen, what’s done, the body of work that’s needed, how far we can push, what more we can do,” Mosley said. “We’re not leaving any stone unturned.”

Suggs, the former Gonzaga standout, has already missed more total games (23) in the time since he suffered his low back strain than Franz Wagner, who missed 20 contests due to a torn right abdominal muscle.

The guard averaged 16.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.46 steals during 28.6 minutes in 35 starts. Orlando has gone 5-7 in the past 12 games without him.

Mosley, who’s already said in the past Suggs will be under a minutes restriction when he returns, was asked if the quad contusion was a bone bruise of some kind.

“There is some bruising there, yes,” he said. “There’s a lot that goes into it when it comes to that. Being able to have him register exactly the feeling that he has going into it and us being able to be smart about how we go about assessing it and with the treatment as well.”

The Magic coach was unsure if Suggs’ previous back injury was still a factor and he continued to look towards the future of his career as well.

“I don’t know how much that plays into it,” Mosley said of the back strain. “But again, this is a young man [who] we understand exactly how we need to treat moving forward with him to make sure that everything is completely right before he steps on the court.”