Orlando Magic show up to celebrate Jalen Suggs at his Minneapolis high school
Jalen Suggs will be running the point for the Orlando Magic against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, but an off day for the Magic on Thursday allowed them to arrive in Minnesota early and attend Suggs' jersey retirement ceremony at his Minneapolis-based high school.
Suggs, who starred at Minnehaha Academy in basketball and football, was honored Thursday night before the varsity basketball game against The Blake School. Both his basketball and football jerseys were retired.
big night for our guy @jalensuggs 🫶
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) February 3, 2023
📍 Minnehaha Academy pic.twitter.com/NwmrAO0jwD
“A lot of great memories in this gym,” Suggs said, per the Magic. “A lot of great games, practices. Family and friends all are here, and this night is above all of it. To have everybody come back, be here for me – it’s a product of everything they’ve done for me. Their love, their support, they’ve been with me every step of the way – (not just) as a basketball player, football player, but as a human. I got to come here every day and just be Jalen ... Just be me, and that’s how they treated me. It’s a special night."
All of Suggs' Orlando teammates attended the event, as did his former high school teammate, 7-footer Chet Holmgren, who is missing his rookie season in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder with a foot injury.
we liveeee @jalensuggs pic.twitter.com/7U52sfpVZM
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) February 3, 2023
Suggs is the only person to win both the Minnesota Mr. Basketball and Mr. Football awards in state history. In football, he quarterbacked the SMB Wolfpack (Minnehaha Academy is part of the consolidated team) to the state championship during his junior year. SMB lost in the state championship game in Suggs' senior year.
In basketball, Suggs was part of three straight state championship teams. Both he and Holmgren went to Gonzaga, with Suggs getting drafted fifth overall in the 2021 and Holmgren going No. 2 in the 2022 draft.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.