Orlando Magic: Who will step up with Jonathan Isaac gone?

The Orlando Magic were dealt a cruel blow with the news that Jonathan Isaac has a torn ACL in his left knee. Here are three players who could now step up.

As has so often been the case with the Orlando Magic, some promising steps forward were derailed in a big way with the news that Jonathan Isaac has a torn ACL in his left knee. The same left knee which he sprained on New Year’s Day, and which he had only returned from recently.

It remains to be seen if playing Isaac when the Magic did had anything to do with him going down once more, but the cautious approach is certainly one which should have been taken. Especially given how he looked like the closest thing to franchise cornerstone that the organization has had in years.

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That changes now, and although players come back from ACL tears in much better ways than even 20 years ago, we won’t know for a long time how much of Isaac’s athleticism and superb defensive ability has been compromised. After all, an injury like that can be as much mental as physical when it comes to a player actually getting back out there.

The Magic can’t feel sorry for themselves, however. A spot in this season’s playoffs is all but assured at this point, and the hope is that they can avoid the Milwaukee Bucks in round one to at least give themselves a chance at a more competitive series. Most likely against the Toronto Raptors, who they faced last year.

Going forward the franchise need to look at other players who will be able to step up and fill the gap left by Isaac. If there’s any small silver lining here, and really there isn’t, it is that the Magic had been without Isaac for most of 2020 anyway, and had improved offensively while also being an above-average defensive team.

Isaac could have taken them to the next level, but any hopes of that are on ice for now. Instead let’s look at three players who have the chance, and hopefully the skills required, to take over from Isaac. The Magic’s future depends on it.