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Aaron Gordon Undergoes Successful Surgery

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

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By John DentonNov. 21, 2014

CHARLOTTE – Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon underwent successful surgery on Friday in Charlotte – less than two miles away from where his teammates were facing the Charlotte Hornets – to repair the fractured fifth metatarsal in his left foot, GM Rob Hennigan announced.

An X-ray following last Saturday’s game in Washington, D.C. revealed the fractured bone in Gordon’s left foot. Following a consultation with specialist Dr. Bob Anderson, surgery was performed on Friday in Charlotte at Carolinas Medical-Mercy Hospital.

Gordon, the youngest player in the NBA this season at 19 years old, is out indefinitely. He will be re-evaluated by the specialist again in six-to-eight weeks to gauge the healing in the surgically repaired bone. His return to game action will ultimately depend on how he responds to rehabilitation.

Gordon was the No. 4 pick in last June’s NBA Draft and he didn’t disappoint in his first 11 games of his NBA career with the Magic. The 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward averaged 5.8 points and 3 rebounds in 15 minutes a game off the bench. He had a career-best 17 points – six of them in overtime – in a defeat of the Minnesota Timberwolves two weeks ago.

Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn and teammate Tobias Harris have both suffered a fracture to the fifth metatarsal – Vaughn when he was playing for the New Jersey Nets in 2005 and Harris when he was a high school senior in New York. Both bounced back nicely from the injury and they predicted that, in time, Gordon will do the same for the Magic.

``(I would tell him) that I have no pain and that you can come back from the injury,’’ Vaughn said. ``It’s a temporary setback for him and it’s a great time to be around the game and mentally test yourself and test your resolve and get better in other ways besides just being on the floor.’’

ROAD WARRIORS: There’s this with the Orlando Magic’s wacky, road-heavy early schedule: Their game in Charlotte on Friday night was their ninth so far – most in the NBA.

And then there’s this as well: Friday’s road game started another stretch where the Magic will play eight of the next 10 games and 11 of 15 outside of Orlando.

``It’s just about accepting this challenge,’’ said Vaughn, who has refused to let his team use the road-heavy start to the season as an excuse. ``There are a lot of games and we’ve played three more (road) games than some teams. A lot of teams won’t even catch up to our amount of road (games) until January. But the ability for us to gain confidence – and you can gain confidence being on the road and being in games and finishing them – hopefully we can continue to do that.’’

The Magic haven’t had consecutive road games since Oct. 30-Nov. 1 – the first two games of the season at the Amway Center. That means that over a stretch of five home games – including Saturday’s tilt against Miami at the Amway Center and Wednesday’s game in Orlando versus Golden State – all of them will be sandwiched around roadtrips.

Because of the yo-yo nature of the schedule, the Magic haven’t been home for more than two consecutive days since Nov. 3. That means that many of the players have had to live out of their suitcases for going on nearly three weeks now.

``Packing and unpack, that’s the only part of this that I don’t like,’’ Magic center Nikola Vucevic said. ``Lately, I get home and don’t even unpack. But I have to put something different in there because you can’t wear the same clothes. If you come with the same outfit two days in a row your teammates are going to kill you, so you always have to come up with something new and create new outfits. I just hate the folding and unfolding of the clothes.

``But the other part with the travelling, it’s just part of the job and every team goes through this at some point in the season,’’ Vucevic continued. ``We just have to live with it. It’s not so bad sometimes when you travel to nice cities. It’s just the packing and unpacking that I don’t like.’’

ETC: Magic shooting guard Evan Fournier played through the pain of a bruised heel on Monday in Detroit and played quite well with 14 points, eight assists and three 3-pointers. But the injury knocked him out of Wednesday’s ugly loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Fournier said it was the first time in his professional basketball career – one that dates back eight years to his time in his native France – that he’s missed a game because of an injury. Said Fournier: ``It was hard for me to be on the bench (on Wednesday) night, but I felt like I had to because the pain was very strong. So I think I did the right choice. That was the first time that I’ve missed a game since I was a pro when I was 16. So that was really hard for me.’’ … Rookie point guard Elfrid Payton started the first 10 games of his NBA career and even equaled some history when he had at least seven assists in his first four games. But with the return of Victor Oladipo and the solid play of Luke Ridnour, Payton has seen his starting role disappear and his minutes dwindle dramatically. In his last three games off the bench, Payton has played just 38 minutes total. While several of Payton’s teammates have talked to him about the highs and lows of the season, Vaughn said he’s simply let the rookie feel out the transition and learn that he needs to be prepared regardless of his role. Said Vaughn: ``For me, (a pep talk) would be overreacting. His job is to come ready every single night. There is no guarantee that you play minutes in this league. You earn your minutes and I’d want it that way, not given to me. Whether he earned those first minutes, whether he’s going to earn them 20 games from now or earn them 50 games from now, every man’s job is to be ready to do their job. They’re professional basketball players and I try to keep it that simple. There are no highs and lows.’’ … Over the next three days, the Magic will face LeBron James’ former team (Miami on Saturday) and his current team (Cleveland on Monday). Orlando has lost nine games in a row to the Heat.