Magic's Jonathan Issac set to play in first game since 2020

The Magic expect forward Jonathan Isaac to play in his first NBA game since August 2020 on Monday against the Celtics, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel reports that Isaac will initially be listed on the league’s official injury report as questionable, but that Orlando plans to upgrade his status to available after a team walkthrough.

Isaac initially tore his left ACL in August 2020, but during his recovery he dealt with a setback and had to undergo an additional surgery, this time on his right hamstring, in March 2022. 

He had been ramping up his rehabilitation significantly this season with an eye on a return. Earlier this month, Isaac had improved enough to be able to play for the Magic’s G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic.

In addition to missing the end of 2019-20, the 25-year-old Isaac was out for the entire 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. He has also been sidelined the Magic’s first 46 games already this season. 

Prior to the ’20-21 season, though he was already set to miss the entire year, Isaac did ink a four-year, $80M contract extension with Orlando.

The 6-foot-11 forward holds career averages of 9.3 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.5 BPG, 1.1 APG and 1.1 SPG.  

He has only played 136 games for the Magic since first being drafted with the sixth pick out of Florida State in 2017.