Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic reportedly added some depth to their backcourt Tuesday. 

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the Magic and guard Frank Mason agreed to a two-way deal. Mason, who may be best known for his time at Kansas during his collegiate career, has played for the Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks since entering the league as a second-round pick in the 2017 NBA draft.

Mason appeared in nine games for the Bucks last season and averaged 6.9 points, 3.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds a night while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from three-point range.

While he isn't a marquee addition, the Magic simply need depth in the backcourt.

Markelle Fultz is out for the season with a torn ACL, and Michael Carter-Williams is sidelined with a foot injury. The health concerns are not limited to the backcourt, as forwards Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac are also sidelined.

Things have gone downhill for Orlando following a red-hot 6-2 start to the season. It is just 2-12 in the last 14 contests and 8-14 overall with injuries preventing the team from building on its early momentum.

It is still just 1.5 games out of the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference, which is the cut-off this season to make the play-in tournament.

Mason may not be the addition the Magic need to completely turn things around, but he is at least a veteran presence who can help stabilize the backcourt as they work through their injury concerns and try to rediscover their winning ways from the start of the 2020-21 campaign.

Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon reportedly will miss 4-6 weeks with a severe left ankle sprain, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. 

Gordon suffered the injury Sunday, leaving Orlando's matchup against the Toronto Raptors. 

In his seventh season with the Magic, the 6'8", 235-pound forward has largely stayed healthy during his NBA career. He missed significant time as a rookie and during the 2017-18 season but has otherwise kept himself available for the Magic.

Once viewed as a potential star in the making, Gordon's NBA trajectory has largely plateaued. He's averaging 13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game this season while missing only two games. He has showed a noticeable improvement as a three-point shooter (career-best 36.9 percent) but has struggled elsewhere on the floor.

The Magic are thin at the 4 spot with Jonathan Isaac also out for the season and Chuma Okeke and Al-Farouq Aminu dealing with injuries, so the Arizona product's absence will have an even greater impact. Gary Clark should see a bump in playing time while Gordon is sidelined.

Orlando Magic power forward Aaron Gordon was ruled out of the remainder of Sunday's game vs. the Toronto Raptors after suffering an ankle injury in the third quarter, the team announced. 

The 25-year-old is averaging 13.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, having appeared in all but two of the Magic's contests during their 8-12 start. He was limited by a pair of injuries early on when a hamstring issue forced him out of one game at the start of January, and hip and back soreness sidelined him Jan. 24. 

Gordon has been a major piece of the Magic's offense since the team drafted him with the No. 4 pick in 2014. Through the past two seasons, he has started every game in which he has appeared (140 over two seasons).

The Arizona product has been incredibly durable throughout his career, save for a fractured bone in his left foot that kept him out for two months as a rookie. 

At the moment, there isn't much depth behind Gordon in the frontcourt since Chuma Okeke and Al-Farouq Aminu are dealing with injuries of their own. That means Gary Clark will see more playing time if Gordon is sidelined for any period of time, while Nikola Vucevic will have to continue bolstering the team's scoring and rebounding units. 

The Orlando Magic have reportedly been granted a disabled player exception for Markelle Fultz's season-ending knee injury. 

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the NBA has given the Magic a $6.1 million exception that will expire if they don't use it by April 19. 

Fultz was injured in the first quarter of Orlando's 105-94 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan. 6. He was driving to the basket when his leg buckled, causing him to fall to the ground and clutch his knee. 

The Magic announced an MRI confirmed that Fultz suffered a torn ACL and would miss the rest of this season. 

Originally selected No. 1 overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2017 NBA draft, Fultz was traded to Orlando in February 2019 for Jonathon Simmons and two draft picks. 

After being used off the bench to start the 2019-20 season, Fultz became the Magic's primary point guard in November 2019. He showed promise in his first year with the organization, averaging 12.1 points and 5.1 assists per game with a 46.5 field-goal percentage. 

The Magic affirmed their commitment to Fultz in December by signing him to a three-year extension worth $50 million. The 22-year-old was averaging a career-high 12.9 points per game in eight starts before his season ended.

The Orlando Magic announced forward Aaron Gordon will miss Sunday's game against the Charlotte Hornets because of hip and back soreness.

Gordon has been a key part of Orlando's solid start this season, and he is averaging 14.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. 

Orlando's frontcourt has been hit hard by the injury bug. Chuma Okeke and Al-Farouq Aminu have missed an extended period of time with their own issues. 

Injuries have caused problems for Gordon in 2020-21. He sat out a Jan. 8 game against the Houston Rockets with a hamstring issue. It didn't seem to be a long-term concern, as he played 35 minutes in Orlando's next game against the Dallas Mavericks one day later. 

The Magic don't have a lot of scoring options, so losing the Arizona alum for any length of time creates issues for head coach Steve Clifford. He's also a valuable and versatile defender for the team as they compete in the Southeast Division. 

Until Gordon is able to return, look for Gary Clark to see extended playing time for the Magic. 

The Orlando Magic announced point guard Markelle Fultz underwent successful surgery Wednesday to repair a torn ACL, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.

The point guard is out for the rest of the season, and there are no projections for a return date.

Fultz was averaging 12.9 points and 5.4 assists per game before suffering his injury on Jan. 6, eight games into the season on a drive to the basket against the Cleveland Cavaliers:

Early in the 1st quarter, @MarkelleF suffered a left knee injury and will not return to the game per the @OrlandoMagic.

Hoping for a speedy recovery Kelle.🙏 pic.twitter.com/XepG7vm6fD

— Magic on FanDuel Sports Network (@FanDuelSN_Magic) January 7, 2021

The season-ending injury ensures Fultz will fail to top 20 games in a season in three of his first four years in the NBA.

The 2017 No. 1 overall draft pick dealt with shoulder injuries earlier in his career, causing his eventual trade from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Magic. He finally got on track in 2019, playing 72 games while averaging 12.1 points and 5.1 assists per game.

That production and potential convinced the Magic to give him a three-year, $50 million extension in the offseason.

Orlando will now have to move forward without him, with rookie guard Cole Anthony likely to pick up more minutes in his place. 

The Orlando Magic announced forward Aaron Gordon will miss Friday's game against the Houston Rockets for management of his left hamstring injury.

Gordon is expected to return for Saturday's clash with the Dallas Mavericks:

INJURY UPDATE:@OrlandoMagic forward @Double0AG will not play tonight at Houston due to left hamstring injury management.

Gordon will be listed as probable for tomorrow night at Dallas.#MagicTogether

— Orlando Magic PR (@Magic_PR) January 8, 2021

He's averaged 13.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists across eight appearances this season.

In his seventh year with the Magic, Gordon was largely healthy over the previous two seasons. He missed only 15 games during that period after missing a significant chunk of action during the 2017-18 campaign.

With Jonathan Isaac out for the season, the Magic's big-man rotation will be even thinner now. Gary Clark will likely get significant minutes at the 4 whenever Gordon is out.

There aren't many things the entire NBA world can agree on, but everybody was rooting for Markelle Fultz. 

And for the first two weeks of the season, one of the strangest basketball stories in recent memory—a No. 1 overall pick who forgot how to shoot and dealt with repeated shoulder problems before being traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Orlando Magic and seemingly finding his footing—looked like it was heading for a happy ending.

Then, in Wednesday's Magic win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, one of the best comeback stories of the year was undone when Fultz suffered a torn left ACL that will end his 2020-21 season. He joins Orlando's other young cornerstone, forward Jonathan Isaac, on the shelf for the same injury, creating all kinds of questions about the short- and long-term future of the franchise.

It's the unfortunate latest chapter in what has been a wildly up-and-down career for Fultz.

Through no fault of his own, Fultz became an avatar for the Process. The Sixers traded a future first-round pick to the Boston Celtics in 2017 to take him first overall, back when he was the consensus No. 1 prospect out of Washington.

The pick they used to get him was one of many acquired by Sam Hinkie in his three years as general manager in Philadelphia, but the deal was made by his successor, Bryan Colangelo. Because of Hinkie's cult following among a segment of Sixers fans, as well as the controversial way in which he was pushed out, any move made by Colangelo was subject to extra scrutiny.

And so when Fultz, a 41.3 percent three-point shooter in his lone season at Washington, looked in his rookie year like someone who had never shot a basketball before, it was glaring. Some called it the yips; others questioned his offseason training methods.

Eventually, he was diagnosed with a scapular muscle imbalance in his shoulder, which was followed a year later by a diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome that sidelined him the rest of his second season, during which he was traded to Orlando at the deadline.

The whole saga became a symbol of a failed and dysfunctional era for the Sixers organization, and the fact that the Celtics came out of that 2017 draft-day deal selecting Jayson Tatum didn't help things.

All the while, Fultz was going through his own private hell of self-doubt and physical recovery (detailed a year ago in this B/R Mag profile by Mirin Fader) from an injury no one could quite pin down. That he was able to get back on the court at all for Orlando last year was a win—and he showed signs of improving.

He appeared in 72 games in 2019-20, starting for the majority of the season before March's COVID-19 shutdown. The three-point shot never came back, but he was solid as the Magic's starting point guard and helped lead them to the playoffs in the bubble.

The beginning of this season looked like another breakthrough. Despite continued poor outside shooting, Fultz blossomed as a playmaker and finisher, averaging a career-high 14.3 points per game as the Magic got off to a surprising 5-2 start heading into Wednesday.

Now, Fultz's season is over, and with it might be the Magic's.

Forgotten in a chaotic offseason because they didn't make a splashy free-agent move and had already lost Isaac in the bubble, Orlando has so far succeeded thanks to Fultz's improvement and solid performances from Aaron Gordon and the ever-underrated Nikola Vucevic. 

For the last two seasons, the Magic have been content to chase a low playoff seed, and they looked to be in that mix again this year. Maybe they still have enough without Fultz, or maybe they look to move Gordon or Evan Fournier and rebuild on the fly around Fultz, Isaac and promising rookie Cole Anthony.

Either way, one of the players who made this year's Magic a surprisingly fun watch is now gone.

If you want a silver lining, it's this: At least Fultz got paid before suffering this latest career setback. In December, before the season tipped off, he signed a three-year, $50 million extension with the Magic, a show of faith by the organization and a reward for all the work he'd put in to rebuild a career that couldn't have started off much worse than it did.

Another positive: The science around ACL injuries has evolved to the point that it's fairly common for young players to recover fully. That Fultz's injury came so soon after the start of the season likely means he'll be ready to return for training camp this fall. Unlike his bizarre, ambiguous shoulder injuries, there's a well-established process for the rehab he's about to begin, one that the Magic's trainers are already working on with Isaac. 

There are no guarantees Fultz will be back good as new, but he's been through much worse than this already. Hopefully, after he clears this latest hurdle, he'll be able to continue building on what was finally turning into a promising career.

             

Sean Highkin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and lives in Portland. His work has been honored by the Pro Basketball Writers' Association. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and in the B/R App.

Orlando Magic point guard Markelle Fultz will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee during Wednesday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team announced.

Fultz went down while driving through the paint just minutes into the game. The team ruled him out for the remainder of the contest shortly thereafter, noting he would be further evaluated.

Injuries have been a constant story surrounding Fultz since the Philadelphia 76ers brought him into the league by making him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft.

The 22-year-old played only 14 games as a rookie and averaged 7.1 points, 3.8 assists and 3.1 rebounds while attempting just one three-pointer. A shoulder injury kept him off the court and appeared to impact his shooting form when he played.

After 19 games in his second season, his agent, Raymond Brothers, told the 76ers his client wouldn't play or practice until seeing a specialist, per David Aldridge of The Athletic.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN wrote at the time that Fultz "has lost the ability to carry out and follow through on long jump shots, and there has been internal and external debate about how much of this perplexing circumstance is physical versus mental."

To his credit, the point guard bounced back last season and averaged 12.1 points, 5.1 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals while helping lead Orlando into the playoffs.

He has been even better through seven games this season with 14.3 points, 6.1 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals per night.

Look for Cole Anthony to serve as a primary point guard with Fultz sidelined, while Dwayne Bacon and Terrence Ross will likely provide ball-handling assistance.

Even though he'll miss the upcoming season after tearing his ACL in the NBA bubble, Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac will return to the court—in Orlando—once he recovers.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Isaac signed a four-year, $80 million extension with the team ahead of the league deadline on Monday.

The 23-year-old was drafted by Orlando out of Florida State with the No. 6 pick in 2017. 

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Saturday that the Magic had been awarded a disabled player exception worth $3.7 million, which will allow them to add another player via a new one-year deal, or trading for or claiming a player who has one season left on their contract. 

Isaac injured his knee during the Magic's second game in the bubble, closing the book on an injury-riddled 2019-20 season.

After he was stretchered off of the court during a New Year's Day game, the team decided he would miss the rest of the season to recover, but when the league was put on pause amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he was able to rejoin them inside the bubble.

The injuries stopped his career-best campaign, as he was averaging 11.9 points on 47.0 percent shooting, with 6.8 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.6 steals through 28.8 minutes per game. 

Through his first two seasons, he averaged 8.5 points with 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while appearing in 102 games for Orlando. 

Though he won't get the chance to continue an impressive run in the upcoming season, the extension shows that the Magic have faith in Isaac to keep it up when he does return from injury.