Magic: Jalen Suggs looks like a draft steal after Summer League debut

The Orlando Magic are hoping they got an NBA Draft steal in Jalen Suggs. He looked ready to prove it in his Summer League debut.

The fact that Jalen Suggs was available for the Orlando Magic with the No. 5 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft shows just how deep the draft class was this year.

While Suggs had to wait longer than he hoped to hear his name called, he’s looking to prove four teams wrong by hitting the ground running at NBA Summer League.

In his debut on Monday, Suggs made quite the impression.

He came out swinging, hitting back-to-back jumpers to put the Magic on the board early.

He also made his mark on the defensive end.

Suggs finished with 24 points and 9 rebounds, leading his team in both categories. He added 3 blocks, 2 steals and an assist.

While Suggs hit 3-of-6 3-point attempts, the only area of his game he could have sharpened up was his shooting percentage. He went 9-for-22 from the field.

Jalen Suggs came to play in his Summer League debut

Suggs was a consensus All-American at Gonzaga in his lone season at the school. The 6-foot-4 guard entered the draft pool as one of the top players available after his stellar showing throughout the regular season and in the NCAA Tournament.

Summer League can only tell us so much, but Suggs made his case for having the most impressive debut of the first five picks in this year’s draft.

If he’s out to make teams regret passing on him, this is a good start.

The Golden State Warriors got solid debuts from their top draft picks as well. Moses Moody finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal, while Jonathan Kuminga had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, an assist and a block.