ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Magic starting guard Jalen Suggs will miss the rest of the season, including any postseason action, after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, the team announced Tuesday.

Suggs had cartilage removed from the knee and also needed a procedure called mosaicplasty to repair the trochlear joint surface in that knee. 

The trochlea is a groove at the end of the thigh bone at the kneecap through which the patella slides during motion and helps keep it from moving sideways. A mosaicplasty is a procedure in which surgeons transplant cartilage from a non-weight bearing area of the knee to repair the damaged area.

The team said Suggs is expected to make a full recovery.

Now the Magic will rely on other players, by committee, to try to fill the void left by the absence of the NBA All-Defensive second team selection in 2023-24. 

Coach Jamahl Mosley said after Tuesday's practice that the main ball-handling responsibilities could vary game by game. While Suggs has been out, Cole Anthony has been filling that role recently, but he was listed as questionable for Tuesday night's game against the Toronto Raptors with a left big toe sprain. Second-year guard Anthony Black and veteran Cory Joseph, who has won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs, have played the position all season and also will take some of Suggs' usual responsibilities on court.

Even before Suggs' injury, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner often brought the ball up the court and ran the offense as point forwards. Heading into Tuesday's game, Banchero was averaging 4.9 assists per game and Wagner 4.8 for the season.

"Its super tough for the team but obviously for Jalen, most importantly. We just want to be there for him," Wagner said after shootaround Tuesday. "We know he loves to hoop and he wants to be back out there. Rehab isn't easy. Unfortunately that's part of it. Us as a team, clarity is good in the sense that everyone knows what the situation is going to be and everyone can lock in for the rest of the season."

Wagner, who missed more than a month earlier this season with a torn oblique, said the time away from the game will give Suggs a chance to look at games from a different perspective and to work on himself in addition to the rehab that will take up much of his time.

The Magic also have made two-way guard Mac McClung available for Tuesday's game. The three-time NBA dunk champion has spent most of the season with the G League Osceola Magic, where he is averaging 24.3 points and six assists per game.

Mosley also said that center Goga Bitadze, Wendell Carter Jr. and forward Jonathan Isaac have helped move the basketball ball during the regular season and may do that at times during games.

Suggs' season is over after playing just 35 games because of the knee injury and a back injury. He played in 75 games last season but has not played in more than 53 games in his other three seasons since being drafted No. 5 overall by the Orlando Magic in 2021.

An NBA regular season typically is 82 games. Suggs, who will turn 24 in June, will be starting the first year of a five-year, $150.5 million contract extension next season that he signed in 2024.