The last few weeks have felt like torture to Evan Fournier.
A hip injury will force him to miss his 13th consecutive game when his Orlando Magic host his old team, the Denver Nuggets, on Sunday night.
“It’s really the first time in my career where I’ve missed so many games,” Fournier said Saturday. “It’s very frustrating, but it’s a part of what we do. We’ve got to take care of our body. Hopefully, I’m going to be able to play soon. Hopefully, 10 more days. I don’t know. But, yeah, it’s hard.”
Magic officials will not say what, exactly, is causing the soreness in or around Fournier’s hip.
Fournier suffered the injury on Feb. 20, during the Magic’s first game following the All-Star break, when he drove to the hoop on a fastbreak. As the New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis committed a goaltending violation, Fournier fell hard to Amway Center’s parquet court.
Fournier, one of the Magic’s toughest players, attempted to play through the injury.
But he hasn’t played since he appeared in the Magic’s games on Feb. 22 and Feb. 25.
The Magic miss the 22-year-old swingman, especially down the stretches of close games, when his ability to initiate pick-and-roll plays would generate some badly needed offense.
During his absence, Fournier has attempted to keep his basketball skills as sharp as possible by working on his ball-handling without moving and by shooting free throws.
He also has cheered on his team.
On Friday night, during the Magic’s 111-104 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, Fournier and the rest of the players seated on the Magic’s bench catapulted off their seats when Channing Frye made a layup and absorbed a foul by LaMarcus Aldridge with 4:55 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Sunday might be an especially difficult day for Fournier because the Magic will play the team that traded him to Orlando.
In some ways, the Nuggets (26-44) have endured a season similar to the Magic (22-49).
While the Magic fired coach Jacque Vaughn and replaced him on an interim basis with assistant coach James Borrego on Feb. 5, the Nuggets fired coach Brian Shaw and replaced him on an interim basis with assistant coach Melvin Hunt on March 3.
Fournier is friends with Hunt, and Fournier also is friends with Nuggets big man Joffrey Lauvergne, a 6-foot-11 Frenchman whom the Nuggets signed on Feb. 19.
Fournier and Lauvergne played together in high school and played together for the French national team when France finished third at the 2014 FIBA World Cup last summer in Spain.
“I’m just so glad he’s in the NBA right now,” Fournier said. “He deserves it. And, of course, I have some friends over there.”
Fournier is hopeful he’ll be able to play before the season ends.
“My season is not over,” he said. “It would be so frustrating to end the season this way. I really want to get back on the court.”
Nuggets on the Nuggets
Although Denver has lost its last three games, it is 6-5 since Shaw was dismissed.
“They’re playing well,” Borrego said. “They have an aggressive team, an athletic team, a team that can score at a high level. They’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. [Sunday] is about building off of what we did [against Portland] and getting better . . . and being ready for a very competitive game [Sunday] night.”
jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.
