The Orlando Magic will miss their starting forward, Aaron Gordon, for up to six weeks due to a nasty ankle injury. Gordon is the second starter that the Magic will miss this season due to injuries. Starting point guard Markelle Fultz blew out his ACL in the eighth game of the season.
Luckily for Gordon and the Magic, he didn’t fracture his ankle. He’s expected to return in March.
Gordon went down in the second half of a game against the Toronto Raptors. He was involved in a bit of a tussle with Kyle Lowry earlier in the game, which was retaliation from an incident that occurred in the NBA Bubble last season. Lowry took exception to a hard foul by Gordon in which he suffered a hamstring injury. Lowry wasn’t involved in Gordon’s sprained ankle.
Gordon, a forward from Arizona, is a former fourth overall pick by the Orlando Magic in the 2014 NBA Draft. He became an everyday starter with the Magic in his third season in the league.
In 19 games, Gordon averaged 13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game this season. He shrugged off a slow start in December with a strong January.
During a trip to Gotham two weeks ago, Gordon lit up Madison Square Garden with a triple-double against the New York Knicks. He scored 18 points, pulled down 17 rebounds, and dished 10 assists.
The Orlando Magic are long shots at +15000 odds to win the 2021 NBA Championship.
Next Man Up for the Magic … Again
The Magic started the season with four straight wins and at 6-2 overall. Fultz, the former #1 pick in the NBA Draft, was off to a career start before he went down with a knee injury. Without a veteran floor leader, the Magic lost 11 out of the next 13 games.
Rookie Cole Anthony got a baptism by fire when he went from a backup to a starting point guard. Anthony did a bang-up job, but some nights his lack of experience has gotten the better of him. He’s improving with every game (10.6 ppg, 3.7 assists), but it’s just a tough break for the Magic without Fultz.
Now, they’ve taken another bad beat in the injury department with Gordon. Head coach Steve Clifford will lean on the remaining healthy starters — Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier, and James Ennis — to pick up the scoring slack. Dwayne Bacon (9.4 ppg) and Gary Clark (3.7 ppg) will split time filling in for Gordon. Terrence Ross is the Magic’s third-best scorer (14.7 ppg) and a reliable Sixth Man, but he’s going to need to increase his scoring output over the next month.
The Magic host the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday before they face the Chicago Bulls for a back-to-back homestand in Orlando this weekend.