Before the Orlando Magic matched up in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday at Target Center, Jalen Suggs’ highschool offered him with a novel honor.
Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, the place Suggs graduated from in 2020, held a ceremony Thursday evening forward of its boy’s varsity basketball sport to retire Suggs’ basketball and soccer jerseys.
“A lot of great memories in this gym,” Suggs mentioned. “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. It’s a special night.”
Suggs bought an early begin to enjoying for Minnehaha’s prime boy’s basketball crew, incomes a spot on the varsity crew as a seventh grader, which is allowed in Minnesota.
He led Minnehaha to a few straight Minnesota Class 2A state titles as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
The Redhawks gained a sectional title the day earlier than the state match was canceled throughout Suggs’ senior season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Suggs was named a McDonald’s All-American throughout his senior season.
Suggs additionally was a star quarterback and defensive again for SMB Wolfpack — a co-op soccer program between 4 unbiased colleges, together with Minnehaha. He led SMB Wolfpack to their lone state championship as a junior and led them again to the championship sport as a senior.
As a senior, Suggs grew to become the primary athlete to win Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball and Mr. Football awards in the identical season.
He starred at Gonzaga earlier than the Magic drafted him at No. 5 within the 2021 NBA draft.
Minnehaha confirmed highlights of Suggs’ highschool profession earlier than presenting him together with his 4 retired jerseys — two from every sport.
The gymnasium was filled with household, pals and former highschool teammates of Suggs to have fun the consideration. Oklahoma City Thunder middle Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 decide in final 12 months’s draft and a Minnehaha teammate of Suggs, was amongst these in attendance.
All of Suggs’ Magic teammates and coaches additionally attended the ceremony. So did staffers from the touring celebration, together with president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and common supervisor John Hammond.
“It meant the world, [to me]” Suggs mentioned. “Those are my brothers. To have them come and share this moment with me, whenever there [are] pictures or videos of this night, they’re going to be right in the background of that. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at [email protected] or observe him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com
