ORLANDO, Fla. — Jonathan Isaac recently suffered a setback during his rehab from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, but he’s still expected to return to the floor for the start of next season.
Isaac sustained a “minor right hamstring injury” during his rehab and underwent surgery, according to Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman.
The injury occurred during Isaac’s rehab session on March 15 — just after the team announced he’d miss the remainder of the season. He had surgery last Thursday.
When speaking with reporters the morning of March 15, Isaac and Weltman said that there hadn’t been a setback — aggravating the left knee or any other injury — during Isaac’s rehab. That quickly changed.
“Literally, within an hour of you guys leaving, after I spoke to you guys on Tuesday, that injury occurred,” Weltman said to the Orlando Sentinel. “Obviously, we need to get our arms around the injury, treat it, have him visit with our doctors and once we do that then design a plan of action.”
Before March 15, Isaac was consistently seen by the media getting individual work in with coaches after shootarounds and practices. He had been taking part in half-court contact drills with coaches for “a little while”, according to Weltman, before the hamstring injury but hadn’t progressed to full-court contact situations — a key step in the rehab process.
Isaac hasn’t played since tearing his left ACL in the “bubble” on Aug. 2, 2020, after the league returned from a four-month hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He missed the entire 2020-21 season because of the injury, making this season the second consecutive one Isaac will miss because of the knee injury.
“We have the utmost confidence in Jonathan, how hard he works and his ability to stay resilient no matter what’s going on,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “He’s going to continue to work tirelessly to get himself back on track.”
Isaac, the sixth pick in the 2017 draft, is in the first season of a 4-year, $69.6 million extension he signed with the Magic in December 2020.
He had just recovered from a major left knee injury he sustained in January 2020 before tearing his ACL during the league’s restart.
Isaac will finish this season having only played 34 of 227 possible regular-season games since the start of the 2019-20 season.
The Magic remain optimistic Isaac will be ready to return by the start of the 2022-23 season in mid-October — nearly 26 months after he tore his ACL.
Training camp is expected to start at the end of September.
