Jalen Suggs is sitting at the center of Orlando’s next big swing.
ESPN pegged the 25-year-old guard as the Magic’s biggest X-factor for next season, and the logic is pretty clear: if Suggs can stay on the floor and get his jumper back, Orlando’s ceiling changes fast. If he can’t, the team is left trying to make do without one of its most disruptive defenders and most volatile offensive pieces.
Health is the first piece of the puzzle. Suggs appeared in 57 games last season, which was the second-highest total of his career, and he has topped 1,600 minutes in a season only once. For a player whose impact is tied so closely to intensity and physicality, availability matters just as much as production.
The other question is the shot. Suggs knocked down 40 percent of his three-pointers in 2023-24, then fell to 31 percent the next season before climbing to 34 percent last season. That kind of swing changes how defenses treat him, and it changes how much space Orlando can work with around him.
When Suggs is right, the Magic look tougher, more athletic and more difficult to deal with on defense. He gives them edge on the ball and a level of pressure that can tilt a possession. But the outside shot has to be there, too, if Orlando is going to push its offense to another level.
That tension came up on a recent episode of the Full Court Magic Podcast, where host Don Strouble talked through how Suggs fits alongside Desmond Bane. Strouble pointed out that last season was a learning process because Suggs missed time while Bane played all 82 games, and the two guards bring very different strengths.
“Because, you know, their dynamic last year, it was a lot of getting used to each other. I mean, Jalen played less than 60 games while Desmond played all 82.
And they've got very different skill sets, right? When you really break it down to brass tacks in the most concrete form, Jalen Suggs is a defensive specialist, where Desmond's game is more predicated on the offensive end.
You know, he's shown us that he can take over as a number one type of scoring option; he is more than capable of creating his own shot and getting his own bucket. Where Jalen has some of that, but he is more of a defensive specialist, a really good on-ball guard, can really make things difficult for teams in the half court. But we've seen him melt down on the offensive end, especially in the playoffs-he had a terrible series against Detroit, and really the only shining moment for him was that hot start in game one that kind of spurred the momentum for Orlando.
But after that point, I mean, he was just abysmal. And so, how will those guys continue to complement each other?
It's interesting because, you know, Jalen had a career-high 5.5 assists last season, even though his usage rate of the core four players of the Magic was the lowest. And you know, it would have been higher if he was healthier, and things of that nature.
You know, there's context with all of this, but he was a good facilitator. But neither him nor Desmond Bane are true point guards.
And so, how can Sean Sweeney find a way to maximize their skill sets the most and put them in a situation where, combined, you are getting elite guard play on both sides of the floor that is synchronous and works well in a cohesive way with the rest of the team? And so I think that'll be interesting to watch.
I think that Desmond Bane can take another leap.”
That’s the assignment for Orlando next season: get the best version of Suggs, keep him healthy, and figure out how his game meshes with Bane’s. If that happens, the Magic have a much better shot at turning potential into something far more dangerous.
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