'I Watched His Whole Journey Growing Up' – Orlando Magic’s Latest Acquisition Had Jalen Suggs 'Jump for Joy'

During the Orlando Magic’s Media Day, Suggs admitted that he has been a long-time fan of Jones since his high school days in Minnesota.

“The fact that I got stones in the building with me is like… makes little Jalen jump for joy, literally. I watched Tyus’ whole journey coming up. I literally blazed away from point guard in Minnesota, especially from my eyes; he was doing everything that I wanted to do,” Suggs said.

“I know him like down to the root, down to the core of who Tyus is and his family and where he comes from. That relationship is so pure, and I’m very excited for everybody to see who Tyus Jones is for our guard group, not only for me and Tyus but for AB, Jase, for all of us to continue to grow (and) evolve off of each other. But yeah, having Tyus in here namely – so cool, it makes me so happy,” he added.

Orlando Magic president shares timeline on Jalen Suggs’ return

Jalen Suggs had his 2024-25 campaign cut short due to knee surgery, and the Orlando Magic guard has worked tirelessly to return to action ever since. According to team president Jeff Weltman, Suggs could play again as soon as the first game of this upcoming season.

“We’ve kind of said all along that it’s a long way to start to set goals, but we’ve targeted opening day for him,” Weltman said about Suggs. “There’s still a long way to go before we get there, but he’s worked really hard. He’s made a lot of progress. He’s in an incredible mind space, and I think that he’ll be a participant in whatever parts of training camp deems.”

“Through that, we’ll remain targeting opening day and hopefully that will remain hopeful that becomes available to him, and if not, somewhere right around there,” he added.