Being extra cautious, the Orlando Magic decided to keep prized rookie Jonathan Isaac out of Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors at Amway Center.
“I’m just doing what the medical team asked me,” Magic coach Frank Vogel said. “They just would prefer he has another day.”
Isaac, the sixth pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, sprained his right ankle on Nov. 11 and hasn’t played in an NBA game since he aggravated the injury for a second time on Dec. 26.
The Magic’s decision to hold out Isaac came as a surprise.
The 6-foot-10 rookie played for the Magic’s G-League affiliate in Lakeland on Friday and on Saturday, and Vogel said Monday that Isaac was on track to play against the Raptors.
But the Magic decided to hold Isaac out at least one more game. He could play when the Magic host the Detroit Pistons on Friday.
Vogel and Isaac stressed that Isaac has not had a recurrence of ankle soreness or discomfort.
“Their rationale is they just want to make sure that everything is 100 percent, everything’s perfect,” Isaac said this morning. “Obviously, I just want to get back on the floor. I want to do the right thing. I’m just following their instructions and [I’ll] be ready to go Friday.
“It’s not because of a setback or anything or they don’t think I’m ready to play,” Isaac added. “It’s just coming off these two games in the G-League, just making sure everything is cooled down to make sure how it responds and everything.”
Isaac now has missed 46 of the Magic’s 61 games. One of those missed games was due to an illness.
Ibaka returns
On Wednesday, power forward Serge Ibaka played at Amway Center for the first time since Feb. 14, 2017, when the Magic traded him to the Raptors for Terrence Ross and a 2017 first-round draft pick.
Ibaka was originally traded to the Magic on June 23, 2016, for Victor Oladipo and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis.
Ibaka played 56 games for the Magic during the 2016-17 season, but the fit was an utter disaster. Ibaka, who had been accustomed to winning with the Oklahoma City Thunder, was miserable with the Magic and didn’t get along well with most of his Magic teammates.
“In life not everything we try to do — every plan we try to make — is going to work our way,” Ibaka said Wednesday. “So sometimes you have to say, ‘Hey, you know what? I tried to do the best I can. It didn’t work, and I have to move on.’ ”
Vogel said: “I think our group as a whole had a bad year, and sometimes parts just don’t fit, whether it’s personalities or on-the-court chemistry. A lot of those factors come into play in different situations throughout the league. Sometimes parts don’t fit the right way, and I’m glad to see him having success up in Toronto.”
Ibaka’s brief Magic stint wasn’t a complete failure — at least for him.
He liked Central Florida so much that he kept his home here, and his daughter also continues to go to school here.
“I just fell in love [with the area] when I got here, and my daughter just loved it here,” Ibaka said. “Sometimes life is going to send you somewhere you didn’t expect and you just end up there.”
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