Jalen Suggs wears his emotions on his sleeve. There is no denying what he is feeling at any given moment.
It is what endears him to everyone around him. When things are going well, he smiles from ear to ear and his emotions constantly drive and energize his team. He is yelling at the crowd after big plays—home or away—he is a bundle of energy and constantly putting that energy to good work to hound opponents on defense.
His offensive role has grown in the last two years. It has grown even more in the last two games with Franz Wagner out of the lineup. Suggs is trying to do everything he can to help his team win. That is what he is always about.
Wins and losses are written all over him.
After Tuesday’s 114-109 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, Suggs was dour. The usually emotive and joyful Suggs sat at the table in an auxiliary locker room inside Fiserv Forum and seemed to speak barely above a whisper.
It did not feel like a game in which Suggs scored a career-high 32 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter when the Magic’s chances at victory were on life support. It did not feel like a game that caused the Inside the NBA crew to proclaim Suggs would be an All-Star soon, joining Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero on this young Magic team.
Suggs was taking and putting the loss completely on himself, unfairly perhaps. But that is the responsibility of a star, even one that has been thrust into that spotlight.
The Magic still want to win and Suggs believes in the team's potential to keep winning. As the team's "star" player, he has a lot of responsibility. Responsibility he is handling for the first time in his career.
That Suggs took his responsibility so seriously and took this loss so hard speaks to what endears him to everyone. He leaves everything on the floor and these games mean everything to him.
That is why everyone loves him. Suggs cares.
He took the responsibility hard for the loss Tuesday. He felt the weight of that responsibility. He felt he let his teammates down.
It was clear in his soft-spoken press conference.
"Just again another opportunity to keep us in the game," Suggs said after Tuesday's game. "I had one to go ahead and another one to tie it up. To miss two of them when everyone is looking to me and drew something up for me to go get one just really hurts to be honest. Good night, bad night, whatever it was I like winning. I don't like letting my brothers down. It felt like I let them down."
A sense for the moment
Most fans would probably claim the opposite. The Orlando Magic are not in a position to win Tuesday night without Jalen Suggs' all-out effort or without his fourth-quarter heroics.
He has a sense for the moment and relishes big shots. That was one of the things that attracted him from his college days when he hit one of the most famous shots in NCAA Tournament history. He turned it around into a series of big shots in his first two years, including a gutsy game-winning three to beat the Chicago Bulls.
Tuesday night, Suggs was thinking about the shots he missed more than the ones he made. That is the curse. There is always something to be better. And Suggs held the game in his hands.
He missed two critical three-pointers down the stretch—a pull-up three he missed with about 15 seconds left and the Magic down by one and a corner three with the team down by three that sealed their fate in this one.
Never mind that Suggs’ efforts and shot-making brought the Magic into the lead down the stretch and that he took and made a lot of shots with the confidence and swagger of a star player. It was his hesitation move that shook Gary Trent Jr. and put him in a spot to hit a tough mid-range jumper as he went toe-to-toe with Damian Lillard. His shooting willed the Magic back into the game.
Never mind that he is new to the starring role with the Magic playing only two games since Franz Wagner’s injury. He has completely embraced every part of it and thrived in it—he had 14 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to secure the win over the Phoenix Suns. He scored 18 of his 32 in the fourth quarter against the Bucks nearly willing the Magic to the semifinals in the NBA Cup and a trip to Las Vegas.
Never mind that Suggs has always risen his game to the moment throughout his career.
Suggs was still dwelling on shots that did not fall—not only the ones against the Milwaukee Bucks but his misses late in the loss to the Philadelphia 76ers with a chance to climb the Orlando Magic all the way back into that game.
His mistakes weighed on him then too as early turnovers helped put the Magic in an early hole and a rushed shot killed the comeback—he took responsibly and acknowledged the mistake in his postgame press conference int hat game, although he was much more jovial about it than he was Tuesday.
Orlando will still always go back to Suggs. They trust him to deliver and will always believe in him.
Suggs expects a lot from himself. And he expects success. It is written all over him every time he takes the floor.
Suggs simply cares
It was there in an early moment last season when Jalen Suggs was moved nearly to tears after missing a potential winning three against the Los Angeles Lakers. It defined what made that Orlando Magic team special. They played so hard and every game felt like life and death. That is how Suggs viewed it, he poured all of himself into the games.
The end of Tuesday's game felt the smae. Jalen Suggs carried the team to the brink of advancing to Las Vegas and will have to continue carrying the team with both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner out.
Suggs is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"I saw people fighting for the team, playing hard, playing defense, really doing everything we needed to do a win," Suggs said after Tuesday's game. "Draw up the perfect opportunity to get a look and it doesn't drop. This one will probably sting. I usually give myself until midnight. But this might take another couple of extra hours."
That remains the case with Suggs. The Magic do not want that to change about him. He cares and feels the sting of losses and the thrill of defeat deep into his soul.
They want him to feel all his feelings. He has worked hard to make sure those negative feelings do not linger. That was part of his revival last year. He did not go into a hole after losses. He bounced back quickly to pour himself into another game.
With the NBA Cup on the line, Suggs wore his emotions on his sleeve after the game. He felt the pain of that loss. That is the responsibility of a star. He is embracing that too.
And that is what everyone loves about him. These games mean something to him. And that is going to make him a valuable player for years to come.