The 3 most important Orlando Magic players in 2022
By Luke Duffy
The most important Orlando Magic players in 2022: 2. Jonathan Isaac
From a clear bright spot on the roster in Ross, to the darkest of holes with Jonathan Isaac. Just what exactly is going on here?
Isaac tore his ACL in August of 2020, having had some injury issues prior to that. Since then, we only heard from him when he was speaking out against vaccine mandates, and the organization has said next to nothing at all about his progress.
It has left fans trying to dissect Instagram videos taken by other players with Isaac walking in the background, trying to gauge what stage he is at in his rehabilitation. Recently, the news that Klay Thompson is going to suit up this month, and that even Zion Williamson is moving in the right direction, has caused the spotlight to burn even brighter on Isaac.
ACL tears aren’t the career-ending injuries they were even 10 years ago. Complications happen, and nobody was ever trying to rush to get Isaac back on the court. With the Magic trying to tank, it didn’t make sense to risk him. But we’re going on 17 months of inactivity from the guy, which, at only 24, is frightening.
This is why 2022 is so important for Isaac in Orlando. Some fans have already accepted that he will never be a significant contributor on the court. The only snag there is, we’ve actually seen him look like a future Defensive Player of the Year candidate in the past.
If Isaac can come back and get anywhere close to the guy he once was (which wasn’t even nearly at his full potential anyway), then he raises the ceiling of this core.
It would also feel like a bonus, because Isaac seems like a holdover from a previous iteration of this team, even though he was drafted by the current front office. Guys like Suggs, Anthony, Wagner, and even Wendell Carter Jr. have come in and brought excitement by actually being able to stay on the court. It might just be that the timing never matched up, and it was never meant to be.
Where it gets even trickier is the fact that Isaac signed a four-year, $80 million deal at the tail end of 2020. In other words, he figures to be around for a while, unless the Magic can get him off their books, while also taking cents on the dollar in any deal.
It has been a frustrating holding pattern that needs to see some sort of resolution this year if the Magic want to continue to grow.