MIAMI — It appears that Evan Fournier will not play again this season.
The French swingman has continued soreness in an area of his core, and both he and team officials want to prevent him from aggravating the injury and want to ensure the injury doesn’t cut into his offseason training regimen.
Fournier was held out of the Orlando Magic’s game against the Miami Heat at AmericanAirlines Arena on Monday night, and he’s highly unlikely to play in the season finale Wednesday night in Brooklyn.
“This time of year, we’ve got to be careful,” interim Magic coach James Borrego said. “We’ve got a big summer coming. We want him healthy for the summer. Obviously, I miss him. He’s a big part of what we are, and I love that kid. But we’ve got to be smart with him.”
Fournier sat out the Magic’s games from Feb. 27-April 4 because of the injury, but he played in a pair of games last week and was effective.
“It’s not easy,” Fournier said. “I wish I could play, but I gave what I had the last two games.”
Magic point guard Luke Ridnour, whose fourth child was born last week, didn’t make the trip to Miami.
Lineup change
The Magic altered their starting lineup Monday, replacing Dewayne Dedmon with Aaron Gordon.
“We’ve always said our players earn their minutes, and Aaron has earned more minutes and he’s pushing me to play him even more,” Borrego said before tipoff Monday.
“Every single night, no matter what team we play against, he can guard 1, 2, 3 and 4. He rebounds at a very high level. He goes and gets rebounds that many players in this league can’t get, so he’s very unique that way. Offensively, he’s coming into his own.”
A QO for ‘KO’
Kyle O’Quinn‘s minutes have disappeared in recent weeks, but the Magic still intend to issue him a qualifying offer in order to make him a restricted free agent in July, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.
O’Quinn’s playing time started to diminish shortly after Jacque Vaughn was fired and replaced on an interim basis by Borrego on Feb. 5.
Borrego has allocated the bulk of the minutes at power forward to Dedmon, who is the team’s best shot-blocker and most energetic big-man defender. Channing Frye, Andrew Nicholson, Tobias Harris and Gordon have received more minutes at power forward than O’Quinn, who didn’t play at all in seven of the Magic’s eight games prior to Monday night’s game.
By issuing a qualifying offer, the Magic would ensure O’Quinn would become a restricted free agent instead of an unrestricted free agent in July. That would give the Magic the opportunity to match any offer sheet O’Quinn might sign from another team once free agency begins.
A confident coach
The chances of Borrego being hired as head coach on a permanent basis this offseason seem slim. The Magic have been pleased with the job he’s done, and the players like him, but Magic officials are far more likely to pursue a more experienced person for the job.
Borrego, 37, said being the interim coach has had a transformative impact on him.
It has made him more confident in his ability.
“I didn’t know what to expect early,” Borrego said. “I have had to build a confidence as a coach, and I’ve grown in that confidence. I absolutely believe I can do this, and my confidence is very high, and this position has forced me to get there. I’ll give our players credit and our staff credit. They’ve helped me get through this.”
jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.
