Orlando Magic forward Chuma Okeke’s goal for the 2023-24 NBA season isn’t surprising, but it’s one that has largely eluded him.

“Just hoop, stay healthy, take care of my body,” Okeke said, “and the rest will take care of itself. Like if I just stay healthy, get a whole year of healthy, then the rest will take care of itself.”

Okeke entered the NBA from Auburn with an injury, and his inability to stay on the court has sidetracked his potential as a 2019 first-round draft choice.

Okeke had 20 points and 11 rebounds in Auburn’s 97-80 victory over North Carolina when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 game on March 29, 2019.

The injury caused Okeke to miss the entire 2019-20 NBA season after being selected at No. 16 by Orlando.

In the fifth game of his NBA career, Okeke sustained a bone bruise on his left knee and missed 16 games. The he missed the final 10 games of the 2020-21 season because of a sprained ankle.

After playing in 70 of Orlando’s 82 games in the 2021-22 season, Okeke got into only 27 last season. In December, Okeke underwent a chondroplasty, a surgical procedure to repair cartilage in a joint, on his left knee.

While Okeke has been in and out, the Magic has grown around him. Last season, Orlando had 12 more victories than it did in the previous campaign and participated in the play-in tournament.

No. 1 draft pick Paolo Banchero posted a 20.0-point scoring average and won the Wilt Chamberlain Award as the NBA’s rookie of the year. He forms a solid forward tandem with Franz Wagner, the Magic’s No. 2 scorer last season at 18.6 points per game.

With former starter Jonathan Isaac continuing his comeback from a knee injury, Joe Ingles coming aboard in free agency and Moritz Wagner and Bol Bol returning after averaging 10.5 and 9.1, respectively, points per game, the opportunities for Okeke appear more limited than in the past as he enters the final season of his contract.

“Of course, it weighs on my mind,” Okeke said of his contract status. “It’s just natural. It’s the nature of it, for real. But how I get back to the center is I love playing basketball, so whatever happens is going to happen. I just got to control what I can control and leave it at that.”

In the Magic’s five preseason games, Okeke had 26 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and two blocks in 87 minutes on the court.

“I feel real good health-wise,” Okeke said. “We just got a new strength coach. Arnie (Kander) came in, so he changed a lot of things, and he’s just really showing us how to take care of our bodies. He’s been showing us what we really need. Health-wise, I feel fantastic. …

“I feel like I had a good offseason. Stayed in the gym. I was mainly in Orlando. Great facility to be in, so why not? I just focused on my shooting, getting the small details down, the little small areas, the smallest things that I could correct. Just focusing on those small, small details.”

The Magic tips off its 2023-24 season against the Houston Rockets at 6 p.m. CDT Wednesday at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

“I feel like every season, we aiming to the highest – at least, I am,” Okeke said. “But I feel like us as a team, too, we want to win the championship, we want to go to the playoffs, we want to do all that.

“But at the end of the day, it starts where we’re at right now – in the practice gym. How we compete with each other in there, how we perform in there is going to lead to the outcome of whatever we want, whatever that will be, whatever that looks like.”

During his NBA career, Okeke has averaged 7.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals in 142 games.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.