Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said rookie Jalen Suggs is doing OK after suffering an Achilles injury that forced him to leave early in Tuesday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Suggs, who started the contest, appeared to suffer the injury early in the first quarter when he was fouled on a layup attempt by Jusuf Nurkic. He checked out of the game shortly after that sequence but eventually returned to play the final 2:22 of the period.
The fifth pick went back to the locker room at the conclusion of the first quarter and was eventually ruled out of returning due to right Achilles soreness. He finished with one point and one assist in just over seven minutes of work during the 113-95 victory.
Mosley said the team didn’t want to risk further injury by keeping him in.
It is just a little bit of a sore Achilles. I think we just wanted to monitor it. He is doing OK, though. … He said he felt it a little bit in that first quarter so we just wanted to get him out and monitor it a little bit. When he was sore, I wanted to make sure we took care of it versus letting anything else happen to it.
The Magic have often exercised caution when dealing with injuries so they opted to play it safe and hold Suggs out of the lineup. He previously missed 20 games this season with a fractured thumb so they will once again not rush him back into action.
Orlando started a four-game West Coast road trip on Tuesday and will not play again until Friday in Utah. The two-day break will give Suggs additional time to get treatment on the injury as the team will provide an update on his playing status later this week.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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