The Orlando Magic's Unsung Hero Stays Clutch

The Magic are as resilient and clutch as any team in the league.

Finding themselves in a ton of close games this season despite key star injuries, Orlando stays competing until the final whistle.

The Magic have 6 game winners in the final 10 seconds of the 4th Quarter or overtime this season; no other team has more than four of them, via Josh Cohen.

Wendell Carter Jr. hold the 5th-highest Clutch FG% of any player with 20+ shot attempts this year.

Carter's clutch play has gone under the radar all season, with the highest clutch FG% of any teammate; WCJ near the rim at the end of a game is a destructive force with a monstrous will to win.

Priding himself on doing the dirty work for this squad, Carter knows his team needs that all-out effort in these clutch moments that have often been the difference between a win and a loss.

Jalen Suggs and Wendell Carter Jr. bring the will to win

Suggs practically willed his team to victory in this one, culminating in the momentous 5pt sequence at the end, where it looked for a moment like Orlando might give one away.

But, as Suggs said himself, the win would not be possible without the dirty work done in the trenches by the Magic's starting center.

I asked Jalen Suggs how cool it was to be a part of the Magic’s game-winning moment with Wendell:

Suggs raved about his big man, “He was so explosive after we made the bucket, he was JUBILANT! ...he does a lot of things for us that don’t get talked about.”

Very dope.

He was so explosive after we made the bucket, he was JUBILANT, if you will! (laughs)

Nah, this is my brother.

He has helped me now, since I first come into the league, he has helped me grow.

For us it is bigger than basketball. Outside of the lines is where our relationship truly resides, where the value lies.

So, when we come in here and play, I try to do my best to keep him in a good mind state, keep him smiling and laughing, and he does the same for me. I just think it is very important.

As these years go on man, they are long; you are going to win some, lose some, you are going to play great, you are going to have rough stretches, that is just how the NBA goes.

We laugh, we talk about life; we are helping each other grow. I think that is really all that matters.

To see him getting buckets, playing well, to get that end-of-the-game moment; not only the bucket, the box-out really was huge, actually. We needed that so we could go score on the other end. Yeah, it is elite.

He does a lot of things for us that do not really get talked about.

Cuh only shot six shots – you can complain, you can ask for more, nah, he just comes in and works. It is a part of our identity.

It is how elite and forceful he is.Jalen Suggs

The strong box outs, the sound screens, the rim-rolling energy; Carter shows up for this team in ways that don’t always show up in the box score.

Being one of the most versatile big men in the league, Carter could average higher numbers if he were given more touches; instead he’s asked to utilize his versatility in ways that help the team win, molding his role to the lineup around him as a switchable 3&D closeout-attacking pick-and-popping rim-rolling force.

Carter’s teammates notice the sacrifice.