Orlando Magic: 3 reasons Jalen Suggs will win Rookie of the Year

Reasons Jalen Suggs can win Rookie of the Year: 1. The situation

The most important aspect of it all, Suggs has arrived in the right situation at the right time to win this award. The storyline element we’ve already spoken about, but right now this Magic organization is crying out for a face of the franchise. Even if Isaac ends up coming back and is fully healthy, he is the two-way monster who you pair with the electrifying guard, not replace him with.

Suggs has the game and plays in the backcourt, a position that captures the imagination of fans more easily in today’s NBA. The Magic have also been seriously lacking in guard depth for years now, and although they suddenly have an abundance of it through Suggs, Anthony, Fultz and R.J. Hampton, it is Suggs who looks the most likely to be the guy to build around.

Hampton has clearly worked hard this offseason, and he will be looking for his touches as well. But with the franchise happy to lose games in order to get a couple more lottery picks next summer (with thanks to the Chicago Bulls in that Nikola Vucevic deal), Suggs will be given all of the time in the world to make mistakes on the job and to learn.

Only he doesn’t look like the kind of player who is going to let a couple of bad games really get him down. Instead, it is more likely that there are some surprising wins (to go with all of the losing), and some fantastic personal numbers in a rookie season that will get everybody talking about the fact that the Magic might finally be onto something again.

Consider this. During the first game that Suggs played in Summer League, he was the second most trending topic on Twitter in all of the United States. A Summer League game. Can you imagine if he lights up the New York Knicks or Los Angeles Lakers? It will be among the most talked about stories in the league.

Finally, Suggs has the kind of young talent around him that Isaac, Oladipo, Aaron Gordon and a whole host of others could only have dreamed of. We haven’t even mentioned Wendell Carter Jr., Chuma Okeke and Gary Harris. All players who can elevate the game of Suggs early on, and put him in a position to win the Rookie of the Year award for the Orlando Magic. Don’t say you weren’t warned.