ORLANDO, Fla. - Usually, Jalen Suggs doesn't take long to rejoin the action. But when the fourth-year Orlando Magic guard went down in a heap with 1:36 left in the first half Thursday night, coach Jamahl Mosley knew something was different.
"When he went down the first time, I was extremely nervous and worried," Mosley said after his team's 105-99 loss to Oklahoma City. I wasn't gonna call timeout, but usually, he bounces back up."
Suggs walked with a noticeable limp in the first half, but was still capable of jogging and sprinting. Controlling the ball at the top of the key, he switched pace as he attempted to drive past the Thunder's Cason Wallace. Starting right, Suggs went between his legs and drove to the left side of the lane.
As he reached the elbow, Suggs collapsed after a step with his left foot and lost control of the ball. He'd planted as he hoped to alter course toward the rim, but his ankle gave way. While the Thunder pushed the break, the Magic's point-of-attack ace immediately grabbed at his left ankle and writhed in pain. The game came to a stop as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fouled OKC's Aaron Wiggins, and Mosley burned a timeout.
The Kia Center hushed enough for Suggs' pain-induced expletives to be yelled. A few teammates, Mosley, and Orlando VP of player performance and wellness, Arnie Kander, came to check on him. Suggs was eventually helped to his feet, but he walked in lockstep with Kander to the end of the Magic bench to receive treatment in the half's final moments.
OKC closed the quarter on a 10-1 run in the next 96 seconds, and Suggs walked under his own power into the Magic locker room.
He emerged with the rest of the team onto the floor for second-half warmups, sporting wraps on each of his lower legs as he began taking shots. He resumed play at the beginning of the third, but when second-year guard Anthony Black checked in for Suggs less than four minutes later, his night was done.
Kander again wrapped Suggs' lower legs with the same wraps, and he watched from the end of the Magic bench for the remainder of the contest.
"As he comes up in the second half, I just saw that there wasn't a high pace," Mosley said. "There were moments of it, but I want to make sure that he's going to be okay for the long haul. There's too many things going on with this team when it comes to the injury bug that we want to make sure that we're smart when it comes down to that."
Mosley confirmed that it was Suggs' left ankle that was giving him problems, but there was no clear indicator yet of the severity of the injury. The Magic never put out an official update on Suggs' status for the game, and Mosley didn't shut down a potential return in Thursday's game with TNT's Stephanie Ready in his quarter-break interview.
According to a report from The Athletic's Josh Robbins, Suggs was able to leave the Kia Center without a walking boot.
Without Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner due to torn right obliques and reserve guard Gary Harris because of a nagging left hamstring strain, Orlando has been reliant on Suggs to help carry the offensive load in aggregate. He was the Magic's leading scorer at the halftime break with nine points, but that was all he'd finish with after 17 minutes.
The Magic have Friday off before hosting the Miami Heat on Saturday evening in the Kia Center, continuing a seven-game homestand. They'll also see defending NBA champion Boston, Miami again and New York for a third time this season over the next week. The homestand concludes with Brooklyn on Dec. 29 in the Magic's final game of 2024.