NBA NOTEBOOK
Magic's Jonathan Isaac staring at another long knee rehab
Jonathan Isaac would routinely be inside the Orlando Magic' s AdventHealth practice facility by 7:15 a.m. most days this spring when the facility was open, putting in hours of work to rehabilitate a serious injury to his left knee.
And now another, longer rehab regimen awaits the young forward.
Isaac left the NBA's bubble at Walt Disney World on Monday f or more test son his left knee, to determine if additional damage was done when he to re the anterior cruc ia telig amen to na jump-stop Sunday night.
AC L tears can take many months, perhaps even a full year, to recover from in most cases — and given the timing of this injury, it raises the possibility that Isaac could miss much of the 2020-21 season no matter when it starts.
Isaac finished the season averaging 11.9 points ,6.8 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, 1.6 steals and 1.4 assists — all careerhighs for the third-year forward, who has seen two of those seasons marred by injury issues. He appeared in only 27 games as a rookie, mostly because of problems with his right ankle.
VanVleet pushes for payday as Raptors top Heat
Fred VanVleet made another case for a big payday later this year
Van V le et scored a career-high 36 points and made seven 3-pointers, and t he defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors added to their strong restart with a 107-103 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday.
VanVleet, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, finished 7 of 12 from beyond the 3-point arc and was a perfect 13 of 13 from the foul line, topping his 34-point total against the Pelicans last December.
The 26- year-old VanVleet is in the midst of a two-year, $18 million contract, but figures to cash in this coming off season after helpin gt he Raptors win a championship and then following that up with another strong season in which he's averaging 17.5 points and 6.7 rebounds.
Pascal Siakam added 22 points and Kyle Lowry had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Raptors, who improved to 2-0 in the bubble. Toronto resumed its season by beating the Lakers and remains in second place in the Eastern Conference. PACERS 111, WIZARDS 100: T.J. Warren kept up his red-hot restart with 34 more points, helping Indiana pull away from Washington for a victory Monday. Two nights after scoring a career-best 53 points in the Pacers' first game at Disney, Warren had 16 points in the third quarter to spark a 22-2 run after Washington had fought back into the game.