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By sending Dort to Atlanta, the Thunder opened up more playing time for rising young guards Ajay Mitchell and Cason Wallace, including a starting spot. Wallace, an All-Defensive Team selection, is extension eligible. Comparable guards to Wallace who’ve signed recent contract extensions include Dyson Daniels and Christian Braun, who both signed for $25 million per season, and Jalen Suggs, who signed for $30 million annually. Should Wallace enter restricted free agency next year, he’d be a highly coveted player. Various teams have called the Thunder through Wallace’s tenure to gauge what it would take to pry him from the franchise, as previously mentioned on HoopsHype.
While the contract of Isaac gives Orlando flexibility to shed salary or use as a potential trade chip, the immediacy of Black’s extension talks will be interesting following Jalen Suggs getting a five-year, $150 million extension, and with Black having comparable statistics to Suggs last season. NBA executives across the league believe Orlando will eventually have to choose between keeping Suggs or Black on the roster long-term due to their incoming salary cap situation.
Jon Krawczynski: If I were to handicap all of the possibilities out there, I do think that Giannis is a really hard one to pull off. I think Kyrie is a more realistic possibility. You are hearing some other names start to just get kind of thrown around the rumor mill. You're hearing Kawhi Leonard. You're hearing maybe a little bit of Jalen Suggs, a few other names.
Suggs, who has four guaranteed years remaining on his contract at descending salaries, could be a trade candidate as Orlando seeks to address its roster deficiencies and clean up its long-term cap sheet. But despite his rugged defense, his injury history might limit his attractiveness to potential trade suitors.
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Jalen Suggs also craves collisions. He excels at beating opponents to spots on the floor, sometimes wrecking dribble-handoffs before a big man can give the ball to a guard or anticipating picks. “He’s just so good at getting in-between,” Magic forward Paolo Banchero said. “I guess he’s not afraid of that contact, which is sort of what you would see in a football player. Most basketball players don’t have that natural instinct to do that, and he does.
SMB won the Minnesota Class AAAA championship in 2018 during Suggs’ junior year and finished as the Class AAAA runner-up in 2019, losing 22-21 in overtime of a game in which Suggs sprained one of his knees just before halftime but played in the second half. “He could beat you in so many ways,” said Chris Goodwin, who was SMB’s offensive coordinator in 2018 and its head coach in 2019. “He was a great passer. He could make plays. As a quarterback, he was so elusive. I’ve seen him break four or five tackles on a play or just elude four or five guys and then throw a touchdown pass. Some of his highlights, I’ve just never seen anything like in my life.” For Suggs, choosing basketball over football was an excruciating decision.
Along with the inspirational video, Mosley also showed his team bonus tournament highlights of assistant coaches such as God Shammgod at Providence and Lionel Chalmers at Xavier. The video not only set the tone, but it loosened up the players with their hearty laughs, especially over vintage footage of Chalmers dazzling in 2004. "The one that got me going was they showed Lionel," an excited Banchero said. "It was grainy, but the move he did, he came down in transition, went real fast, then slow, hesi pullup for 3 ... it was just a clean-ass shot. I was like damn. That got [everybody] going." Suggs said it was the perfect mood-setter for the Magic. "It makes everybody feel a bit better," Suggs told ESPN of the video. "You remember where you came from. Mose is really good at that, giving us reminders of who we are, our complete basketball journey, not just whether it be the frustrations or the heaviness of right now."
Derek Bodner: Nick Nurse, on playing the Magic in the play-in game: "Physical team. Big wings and aggressive guards. Suggs and Bane are two competitive, physical guys back there...They've been one of many teams in the league that hasn't been very healthy this year, so it's gonna be a tough game."
Paolo Banchero had 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists as the Orlando Magic beat the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves 132-120 on Wednesday for their fourth consecutive victory. Desmond Bane scored 18 points and Franz Wagner added 17 for Orlando (44-36), which moved into seventh place in the tight Eastern Conference standings, one-half game ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers (43-36) with two games remaining. Goga Bitadze had 14 points and a season-high 15 rebounds, Tristan da Silva added 12 points, and Jalen Suggs and Jevon Carter finished with 11 apiece. Orlando led by as many as 24 in the third quarter and completed a two-game season sweep against the Wolves. Terrence Shannon Jr. set career highs with five 3-pointers and 33 points for short-handed Minnesota (47-33), which clinched the sixth position in the Western Conference on Tuesday. Jaden McDaniels returned after missing six games with a knee injury and scored 18 points in 19 minutes. Naz Reid had 15 points and Donte DiVincenzo added 12.
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Jason Beede: "It's dope, honestly," #Magic guard Desmond Bane said about being a finalist for the Teammate of the Year Award. "I try to pride myself on being a good person, a good teammate. So, it's pretty cool." Suggs added later: "He should win it. It speaks a lot about his character."
When Jalen Suggs tossed his mouthpiece off the court after he was bumped by LaMelo Ball roughly halfway through the first quarter of Thursday’s game at Charlotte, the Magic guard was quickly assessed a technical fine from official Scott Foster. What Suggs didn’t know at the time was that his wallet would take a hit, too. Suggs was fined $25,000 for “throwing his mouthpiece in the direction of the spectator stands,” the NBA announced Saturday afternoon.
