Magic guard Jalen Suggs went through Saturday’s shootaround and is expected to suit up this evening against Cleveland, reports Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).
The fifth overall pick in the 2021 draft, Suggs has missed Orlando’s past eight games with an MCL contusion in his right knee, last playing on January 2. He has battled multiple injuries again so far in 2025/26.
The 24-year-old appeared in 48, 53, 75 and 35 games in his first four seasons leading up to ’25/26. He has played in 23 of the Magic’s 43 games so far this season.
While availability has obviously been a major issue for Suggs, the ’23/24 All-Defensive member has been incredibly impactful when he’s on the court. In his 584 minutes, the Magic have a +10.1 net rating and a 106.1 defensive rating; projected out, both figures would only trail the defending champion Thunder. When Suggs is unavailable, Orlando’s net rating plummets to -4.0, with a defensive rating (116.0) equivalent to the 20th-ranked Hornets.
The Magic are 14-9 with Suggs in the lineup this season, compared to a 9-11 mark without him. He has averaged 15.0 points, 4.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals on .471/.331/.857 shooting in his 23 games (25.4 minutes per contest).
Suggs, a Minnesota native, is under contract through ’29/30. He’s in the first season of a five-year, $150MM rookie scale extension.